A Supreme Court Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and P.K. Mishra is scheduled to hear a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to suspend his conviction in a criminal defamation case on Friday.
Mr. Gandhi, in a petition filed by advocate Prasanna S., contended that the lower courts had found a political speech critical of economic offenders and also of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made in the course of democratic political activity, an “act of moral turpitude”. This conclusion is unprecedented in defamation jurisprudence itself, he has submitted.
“A political speech in the course of democratic political activity, critical of economic offenders, and also of Shri Narendra Modi, has been held to be an act of moral turpitude inviting the harshest punishment. Such a finding is gravely detrimental to democratic free speech in the midst of a political campaign. It is respectfully submitted that the same will set a disastrous precedent wiping out any form of political dialogue or debate which is remotely critical in any manner,” the petition said.
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