More than a month after it held a final hearing, the Gujarat High Court is set to pronounce its judgement on Friday on former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s plea to stay the conviction in the criminal defamation case in which he has been sentenced to two years in jail by a court in Surat.
The case related to remarks about the Modi surname during a rally in 2019 while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka.
After he was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment in March this year, he was disqualified as as a Member of Parliament from Lok Sabha.
Justice Helmand Prachchhak of the High Court completed the hearing on May 2nd and reserved the order in the petition that sought to stay the conviction.
Surat court ruling
The criminal defamation complaint was filed against Mr. Gandhi by BJP legislator Purnesh Modi, who had approached the court contending that Mr. Gandh’s statement: “why do all thieves have Modi surname in common” had tarnished and defamed the Modi community.
The remark was made by Mr. Gandhi during the last parliamentary polls in 2019 while addressing a campaign rally in Karnataka.
Also read: Defamation case | Rahul Gandhi files appeal in Gujarat High Court against Surat sessions court order
After the trial court’s judgment of conviction and sentence, Surat Sessions court had declined to stay the conviction while his sentence was suspended and he was granted bail till the disposal of his appeal against the conviction.
