RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, March 24: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who has been sentenced for two years by a Surat court in Gujarat for a defamatory statement against the Modi community during an election campaign in 2019 is facing three cases of similar nature in Jharkhand also.
While one case is pending at a lower court in Chaibasa, two cases are pending at a lower court in Ranchi.
In Chaibasa, a case was filed by BJP worker Pratap Katiyar for his alleged defamatory statement during a party convention saying ‘Congress BJP Ki Tarah Hatyare Ko Party Adhyaksh Ke Roop Mein Sweekar Nahi Kar Sakti’ alluding to Amit Shah. In Ranchi, two cases are filed. One case is filed by advocate Pradeep Modi for Rahul’s alleged defamatory statement saying ‘Sare Modi Chor hai’ and another is filed by BJP worker Naveen Jha for the same statement for which the case had been filed in Chaibasa.
The Chaibasa court had issued summons against Rahul but the same has not been executed as the Jharkhand High Court has directed for ‘no coercive action’ passing an order in Rahul’s petition demanding quashing of cognizance taken against him in that matter. The petition of Rahul is pending in the high court for final disposal.
In Ranchi’s case filed by Jha, the court has summoned Rahul but like Chaibasa’s case its proceedings are pending following another Jharkhand High Court order directing for ‘no coercive action’. The order was passed after Rahul filed a petition demanding quashing of cognizance taken against him in Naveen’s matter. Rahul’s reply in the high court is awaited in the matter.
In another Ranchi case filed by Pradeep Modi, the trial is going on and the case is on evidence stage. Rahul attempted to stop proceedings in the matter by filing a petition before the court but the court did not interfere and dismissed his petition demanding quashing of cognizance.
Advocate Vinod Kumar Sahu, who is appearing in one of the three cases and monitoring development in other two cases, confirmed the fact saying in the case involving defamation of Amit Shah the maximum quantum of punishment could be one year while in another two cases involving defamation of the Modi community the maximum quantum of punishment could be two years.
Rahul’s advocate in Jharkhand High Court Kaushik Sarkhel said the matter pending before the high court is concerned with the statement given by Rahul in a party convention. “My client in his statement has not given any particular community but against the BJP, which is not an identifiable group,” he said supporting the information regarding present status of the cases involving Rahul.
