Congress to move SC after HC's refusal to stay Rahul Gandhi's conviction in defamation case

Congress said it will move the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court's Friday verdict to stay former party president Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case.

The Gujarat HC on Friday dismissed his review petition and refused to stay his conviction in the 2019 Modi surname case.

The high court in its final order on Friday said there are at least eight other criminal defamation complaints pending against Rahul Gandhi. The court further stated that the order issued by the sessions court did not warrant any interference in the matter. The conviction is "just, proper and legal", the High Court said. 

The refusal of stay of conviction won't result in injustice to him, the court said.

"There is no reasonable ground to stay the conviction. The trial court's order is just, proper and legal and there is no need to interfere with the said order. The disqualification is not limited to only MPs and MLAs," the court said.

The court further noted that at least 10 criminal cases are pending against Rahul Gandhi. "It is a well-settled principle that the stay of conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted in rare cases," the court further said.

In Kozhikode, AICC general secretary, Organisation, KC Venugopal said the party would would move an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat High Court order.

"There is one more option before us... the Supreme Court. Let's see. The Congress party will seek that option too," Venugopal said while addressing a party programme.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said: "Defamation law was misused... We trust the law system, the judiciary and the Supreme Court but the court above the apex court is people's court. We are showing the people the cottage industry of hurling accusations set up by BJP workers so that free speech stops...".

The 53-year-old was handed a rare two-year sentence in a defamation case in Gujarat on March 23 for his speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign. The Congress leader, who was the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad in Kerala, was disqualified soon after. 

Following the HC's Friday verdict, his disqualification from the parliament will stand. If the Supreme Court also rejects his request, Rahul Gandhi cannot contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

He will not go to jail as his two-year sentence had been put on hold by a court previously.

After the verdict, political parties reacted to the judgment.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said said Rahul Gandhi is fighting the battle for truth and people's interests against an "arrogant regime" which is adopting all tricks in the book to suppress the questions he is raising.

In a long Twitter post in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi quoted the poem "samar shesh hai...(battle is yet to be over)" by Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' and launched a scathing attack on the Modi government.

Rahul Gandhi is fighting the battle for truth and people's interests against this "arrogant regime", she said.

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil has said that Surat Court had no jurisdiction in the case as the comments by Rahul Gandhi were made in Karnataka. He said, "Rahul Gandhi spoke against Lalit Modi-Nirav Modi who looted the country and fled. He said this in Karnataka. Surat Court had no jurisdiction. The procedure was not followed. There is nothing concrete in Rahul Gandhi's case...We are absolutely sure that we will get justice..."

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the reasoning of the judge is being studied and the matter will be taken up further.

"We have noted the verdict of the single-judge bench of the Gujarat High Court on the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi. The reasoning of the Hon'ble judge is being studied, as it should be, and Dr. Abhishek Singhvi will be briefing the media in detail at 3 pm. The judgment only redoubles our resolve to pursue the matter further," Ramesh said on Twitter.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, has welcome Gujarat High Court's decision rejecting Rahul Gandhi's plea to stay his conviction in defamation case. The ruling party said that Gandhi has 7-8 defamation cases against him, if he acts like this law will catch up with him.

BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “We would like to ask Congress - why can't you control Rahul Gandhi? Why can't you train him to speak properly? He is your leader. Had he apologised in this matter, it would have ended...It has become a chronic habit of Rahul Gandhi to abuse, defame & almost showering the worst kind of abuses against eminent leaders and organisations."