Congress leader Rahul Gandhi approached the Patna High Court seeking to quash the summons which were issued by the Patna Court in a 2019 defamation case filed against him by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi for his remark, all thieves have Modi surname.
The matter was mentioned before the bench of Justice Sandeep Kumar who has agreed to hear plea on April 24.
A Patna court on March 31, had ordered Rahul Gandhi to appear before it physically on April 12,for recording his statement under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the defamation case.
Rahul Gandhi however, did not appear on the given date, however the counsel of Gandhi requested for some more time .
The Court then directed Gandhi to appear physically on April 25.Subsequently, Gandhi moved the Patna High Court.
The case has its origin in the election campaign of 2019 during general election when in a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar, Rahul Gandhi had said,
“Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi. How come all the thieves have ‘Modi’ as a common surname?”
A suit was filed against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks by Sushil Kumar Modi who had find this remark objectionable . However, the Congress leader was granted bail in this defamation case on July 6, 2019.
There are multiple proceedings which stand pending against Rahul Gandhi for the same remark.
Another case was filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by BJP leader Purnesh Modi, for which the court in Surat has already convicted him and sentenced him to two years in prison as a consequence of which he was disqualified as Member of Parliament (MP).
Close to 10 criminal defamation cases are still pending against Gandhi in various courts across the country for various statements.
It is important to note that Gandhi, however, has not filed any such case against anyone.