Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 21: The Supreme Court sent notices to the Gujarat government and the complainant Purnesh Modi on Friday in response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s appeal questioning the Gujarat High Court’s order.
The Gujarat High Court had earlier denied in its judgment to suspend his conviction in the criminal defamation case in which he was given a two-year prison sentence by the Surat court for making a remark about the “Modi surname.”
The parties were given ten days to submit their affidavit submissions to a bench led by Justice BR Gavai. It has scheduled a hearing on the question of his conviction’s stay on August 4.
Justice Gavai offered to step down from the case during the hearing, citing his father and brother’s affiliation with the Congress party.
However, both parties asserted that they have no issues with Justice Gavai hearing the case.
Gandhi was ruled ineligible to serve as an MP for Kerala’s Wayanad on March 24 after being found guilty in the case following notification from the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Gandhi received a two-year prison sentence, which made him ineligible to serve as an MP under the terms of the Representation of People Act.
Gandhi also asked the highest court to halt the Gujarat High Court’s decision upholding his conviction. He claimed that the High Court decision “has no parallel or precedent in the jurisprudence of the law of defamation”.
He contended that it was “not only curious but extremely significant, indeed sinister, that all earlier cases, including the one regarding the present speech, were filed by members and office bearers of the ruling party”.
It was argued that the surname “Modi” spanned numerous groups and sub-communities across the nation, most of which lack any kind of commonality or uniformity. Different castes were represented by the Modi surname.
The petition submitted to the Supreme Court further stated that the complainant, who merely bears the surname “Modi,” failed to establish that he was prejudiced or otherwise damaged in any particular or private way.
Gandhi’s plea said, “Unprecedentedly, in a case of criminal defamation, a maximum sentence of two years has been imposed. This itself is a rarest of rare occurrence.”
The High Court upheld the Gujarat Sessions Court’s judgment on July 7, which had declined to stay a March 23 magisterial court judgment convicting Gandhi and imposing the harshest penalty possible for criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code.
Gandhi’s request for a stay on his conviction was denied by the High Court, which noted that such a request was made on “absolutely non-existent grounds” and that a stay on conviction is an exception rather than the rule.
Gandhi was found guilty in March by the magisterial court for his comments on the surname “Modi” made prior to the 2019 national polls.
Gandhi sought help from the Sessions court after being found guilty by a magisterial court, but on April 20 the court refused his request for a stay on his conviction. After that, he went to the High Court.
Congress leader was found guilty on March 23 of violating sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (defamation) and given a two-year prison sentence. Purnesh Modi filed the case.
Rahul Gandhi poked fun at Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Kolar, Karnataka, in April 2019 by asking, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
