LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, Aug.16: The Jharkhand High Court has exempted Congress parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi from personal appearance before the Ranchi MP-MLA court in the Modi surname case.
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi passed the order hearing Gandhi’s petition seeking exemption from his personal appearance.
The case arose after Pradeep Modi, a Ranchi resident whose forefathers had provided land for opening the Congress office, filed a defamation case against Gandhi for asking why all with Modi surname are thieves and on hearing the case MP-MLA court took cognizance in the matter directing Gandhi to appear before the court during trial of the case.
Gandhi sought exemption from physical examination under section 205 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure). The lower court denied the same. Thereafter, Gandhi moved the high court which granted him relief paving the path for trial without his personal appearance.
Rahul’s Modi surname cases arose during 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign when in a public meeting at the Morhabadi ground mentioning names of Narendra Modi, Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi he asked why all with Modi surname are thieves.
Pradeep Modi, who is an advocate, took strong exception to this and filed a complaint calling all Modis as thieves, is condemnable, painful and heart-wrenching. He also filed a defamation case of Rs 20 crore against Gandhi.
