The Patna High Court has put a stay on the proceedings before a Bihar court against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi till in a defamation case filed against him by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi till May 16.
On March 31, a Patna court had directed Rahul Gandhi to appear physically on April 12, so as to record his statement under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the defamation case.
Justice Sandeep Singh has put a stay on the proceedings on a plea by Gandhi for quashing the summons issued by a Patna court.
Rahul Gandhi, however did not appear on the given date and thus his counsel requested for more time, the Court had directed Gandhi to appear physically on April 25.
In the meanwhile,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.