The High Court of Gujarat on Friday rejected the review petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case that led to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Hemant Prachchhak further refused to stay the conviction and two-year jail term awarded to the Congress leader.
The High Court observed that staying the conviction was not a rule and the same must only be exercised in rare cases.
The Bench noted that at least 10 criminal cases were pending against Gandhi.
It said even after the present case, some more cases were filed against him, adding that representatives of people should remain of clear character.
As per the High Court, a case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by the grandson of Veer Savarkar in a Pune court, accusing him of using defamational terms against Veer Savarkar in Cambridge. In another case, complaints were also filed in a court in Lucknow.
The Bench further said that in the backdrop of the facts of the instant case, no case was made out to stay the conviction.
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as an MP after being convicted for criminal defamation on March 23 for his remark “all thieves have Modi surname,” which he had made at an election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in 2019.
In his speech, Rahul Gandhi had linked Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
During the election rally in Kolar, he said Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi. How come all the thieves have ‘Modi’ as a common surname?”
A former BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Purnesh Modi, took exception to the said speech and said that Gandhi humiliated and defamed persons with the Modi surname.
Chief Judicial Magistrate H.H. Varma in Surat had sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail, after finding him guilty under Sections 499 (Defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) IPC.
Judge Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma said that since Rahul was a Member of Parliament (MP), whatever he said, was bound to have a greater impact. Thus, he should have exercised restraint.
Gandhi’s conviction under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), both of which warrant a maximum sentence of two years, led to his disqualification from the Parliament, as per a Supreme Court order of 2013.
He was disqualified as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha on March 24 and further barred from contesting elections till 2031.
(Case title: Rahul Gandhi v Purnesh Modi)