The Gujarat High Court Justice Hemant Prachchhak will hear the appeal filed by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who has asked for stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case against him by a Magistrate court.
The justice has agreed to hear the case on April 29.
On April 26, when the counsel for Rahul Gandhi named Pankaj Champaneri mentioned the matter in court seeking an urgent hearing,Justice Gita Gopi recused herself from hearing the appeals.
Justice Gopi had said that the papers should be presented before Acting Chief Justice for assigning a new bench.
Gujarat High Court website reads that Justice Prachchhak is likely to take up this appeal for hearing on Saturday, April 29.
On April 20,a sessions court in Surat had dismissed the plea by Gandhi seeking suspension of his conviction by the Magistrate court.
The sessions court had held that Gandhi disqualification would not amount to be an irreparable or an irreversible loss to him and refused interim relief to him.
Rahul Gandhi, who has now been disqualified from Wayanad, Kerala was convicted on March 23,by a Magistrate court in Surat for his remark that all thieves have Modi surname which he had made at an election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in 2019.
Gandhi had, in his speech linked Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
He had said,Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi. How come all the thieves have ‘Modi’ as a common surname?”
Purnesh Modi, a former BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), took exception to the said speech claiming that Gandhi humiliated and defamed persons with the Modi surname.
The magistrate court in Surat accepted the contention of Modi that by his speech, Gandhi has intentionally insulted the people with a ‘Modi’ surname.
Judge Hadirash Varma, in his 168-page judgment,said that since Gandhi is a Member of Parliament (MP) and he should have realised that whatever he says will have a greater impact.
The judge held that Rahul Gandhi had taken the reference of the surname of the current Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, for satisfying his political greed and insulted and defamed about 13 crore people living in the whole of India having the surname ‘Modi.
The sessions judge refused to stay the same leading to the present plea before the High Court.