NEW DELHI, August 4: NOTING that “the trial court judge has given the maximum punishment of two years without significant reasons and grounds,” the Supreme Court today stayed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 defamation case over his Modi surname remark, paving the way for the revival of his Lok Sabha membership.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Justice P S Narasimha, and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing Rahul Gandhi’s plea for stay on his conviction. The Gujarat High Court had earlier refused to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case.
The judgement is stayed until the larger appeal is heart on merit, a bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice B R Gavai is in his order. The court passed the order after noting that there were no reasons given by the trial court judge or giving the maximum punishment of two years.
The supreme court also said that the disqualification affects not only Gandhi but also the electorate of his constituency. However, the top court also cautioned Gandhi that he should have been more careful in making the alleged remarks.
The Supreme Court noted in its order that it has heard that counsel at length and that the arguments are entering into the merits of the matter. “Proceedings are pending before the specific court, we therefore refuse to comment on the merits so as not to influence proceedings. On the stay of sentence, we have considered certain aspects of the case. There is no doubt that the utterances by the petitioner are not in good tests’, Justice Gavai noted in his order.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Rahul Gandhi, said the trial has been completed, and Mr Gandhi has even been convicted, yet there is no evidence so far. Mr Singhvi said this is the first time 30 crore people have been held to be an identifiable class. “They are amorphous, non-homogenous…communities, castes, and groups with the appellation ‘Modi’ are totally different,” he said.
Justice Gavai had at the beginning of the hearing said Mr Gandhi will have to make out an exceptional case for a stay on conviction, to which Mr Singhvi said he was not arguing conviction today. Mr Singhvi argued the complainant Purnesh Modi’s original surname is not Modi, and he had changed it.
“The complainant Purnesh Modi himself said that his original surname was not Modi. He belongs to Modh Vanika Samaj,” he argued, and claimed not a single of the persons Mr Gandhi had named during his speech have sued him.
The Congress Party hailed as “strong vindication of truth” the Supreme Court ruling staying the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case and urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to restore his membership of the Lower House. The party said the Constitution has been upheld and the BJP’s “conspiratorial hounding of Gandhi has been thoroughly exposed”.
Following is the timeline of the case:
* April 13, 2019: At an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi says, “Why do all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi as the common surname?”
* April 15, 2019: BJP MLA from Surat Purnesh Modi files criminal defamation suit against Rahul Gandhi for the remark.
* July 7, 2019: Rahul Gandhi’s first appearance before Surat metropolitan court in the case.
* March 23, 2023: Surat metropolitan court sentences Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail after holding him guilty for defamation.
* March 23, 2023: Surat metropolitan court sentences Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail after holding him guilty for defamation.
* March 24, 2023: Rahul Gandhi disqualified as a Member of Parliament as a result of being convicted and awarded a two-year jail term.
* April 2, 2023: Rahul Gandhi challenges the metropolitan court’s order in a sessions court in Surat, which is still pending, along with an application seeking a stay to the conviction.
* April 20, 2023: Surat sessions court grants him bail but refuses to stay conviction.
* April 25, 2023: Rahul Gandhi files revision appeal before High Court against lower court order.
* July 7, 2023: Gujarat HC dismisses Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction.
* July 15, 2023: Rahul Gandhi moves SC challenging Gujarat HC’s order, says if not stayed the verdict would throttle free speech.
* July 21, 2023: SC issues notice to Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi and the state government on Rahul Gandhi’s appeal challenging the high court verdict that declined to put on hold his conviction
* Aug 4, 2023: SC stays Rahul Gandhi’s conviction, paving the way for the revival of his Lok Sabha membership.
