Gujarat HC to hear Rahul Gandhi’s plea in ‘Modi surname’ defamation case today

The Gujarat High Court will be hearing Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against the decision of a court in Surat that refused to suspend his conviction in the case related to his comments about the surname Modi.

According to the list of cases released by the high court on Thursday, Justice Hemant Prachchhak will hear Rahul Gandhi’s appeal on April 29 against the order of the Surat court,

According to Rahul Gandhi’s counsel P S Champaneri, Justice Gita Gopi had recused herself from the case on Wednesday. When the case came up for hearing in the second half of the day, Justice Gita Gopi had said “not before me.”

Before the 2019 general elections, Rahul Gandhi made a comment about the Modi surname, which led to his conviction and a two-year prison sentence in a criminal defamation case by a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat on March 23.

After his conviction, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad, Kerala, on March 24. He filed an appeal against the verdict on April 3, and was granted bail until the disposal of his plea by the sessions court.

After Gandhi’s appeal against his conviction in a defamation case was rejected on April 20, he filed an appeal in the high court seeking a stay on the conviction.

As per the law, the conviction and the two-year prison sentence makes Gandhi ineligible to become a member of either House of Parliament for eight years. However, he can regain eligibility if the conviction is reversed or the sentence is reduced to less than two years by a higher court.

Purnesh Modi, who is a lawmaker from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the complainant in the case, described Rahul Gandhi as a repeat offender and stated that his appeal was a “disgusting show of childish arrogance”.