'Modi surname' case: Rahul Gandhi files affidavit in SC, says, 'not guilty, offence trivial'

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that he had always maintained that he was not guilty of the offence in the 'Modi surname' defamation case and that his conviction was unsustainable. He also said that if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier. In an affidavit, Gandhi said that it was an 'exceptional' case as the offence was 'trivial'.

Gandhi was convicted in a defamation case by a Surat court in March this year. Immediately after his conviction, he was disqualified as a Member of Parliament. His plea against the conviction was dismissed by the Gujarat High Court, which observed that "purity in politics" was the need of the hour. Gandhi approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the conviction.

Recently, BJP leader and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi, the complainant in the case, sought the dismissal of Gandhi's appeal in the SC. The BJP leader also said that Gandhi's attitude disentitles him to any relief in the form of a stay of conviction as it "reveals arrogant entitlement, rank insensitivity to an offended community and contempt for the law".

However, Gandhi in his affidavit said that the complainant, in his reply before the top court, used "slanderous terms" such as 'arrogant' to describe the Congress leader only because he refused to apologise. The affidavit further said that using the criminal process and the consequences under the Representation of Peoples Act to arm-twist Rahul Gandhi into apologising for no fault, is gross abuse of the judicial process and ought not to be countenanced by the apex court.

Gandhi said that there was no prejudice caused at all to the complainant. It is therefore prayed for that the conviction of Rahul Gandhi be stayed, enabling him to participate in the ongoing sittings of the Lok Sabha and the sessions thereafter, the affidavit stated.

In his reply in the SC, Purnesh Modi said Gandhi had defamed all those bearing the Modi surname, particularly people belonging to the 'Modh Vanik' caste of Gujarat. Purnesh had filed a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Gandhi over his "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remark made during an election rally in Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

In his written reply to Gandhi's appeal in the top court, Modi said, "It is a settled law that a stay of conviction is granted in the rarest of rare cases for exceptional reasons. The Petitioner's (Rahul Gandhi) case manifestly does not fall in that category." He also said in view of the "overwhelming" evidence adduced before the trial court on which the conviction is based, there is no ground to stay the conviction.

Purnesh also said that Gandhi has refused to apologise for his "malicious defamation" of all persons with the Modi surname/Modi sub-caste in Gujarat on the ground that he was a Gandhi and not a Savarkar (Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar). "The Petitioner presumably wanted to suggest that a Gandhi will never apologise even if he/ she has for no justifiable reason slandered an entire class of people," he said.

The SC is scheduled to hear Gandhi's appeal on August 4.

(With inputs from PTI)