The plea filed by former Congress President Rahul Gandhi challenging the Gujarat High Courts decision to deny a stay, on his conviction, in the defamation case related to the ‘Modi surname’ has been taken up by the Supreme Court. A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra issued a notice to examine whether the conviction should be suspended.
However, the bench did not grant interim relief on Gandhi’s request for suspending his sentence. The Gujarat High Court’s refusal to stay his conviction and two-year jail term in the criminal defamation case led to Rahul Gandhi losing his Lok Sabha membership.
The top court recorded in its order that the complainant, who appeared on caveat, waived notice and allowed the state of Gujarat to be served through the standing counsel. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani sought 10 days to file written submissions.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Rahul Gandhi, urged for an early hearing as Gandhi could not attend the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, and by-polls to the Wayanad constituency could be announced anytime by the Election Commission.
The court sought responses from the Gujarat government and others on Rahul Gandhi’s plea and scheduled the matter for hearing on August 4.
During the proceedings, Justice B.R. Gavai offered to recuse the case due to his family’s political affiliations, but both parties did not object to him hearing the plea.
On July 15th, Rahul Gandhi filed a petition with the Supreme Court contesting the decision made by the Gujarat High Court. He argued that receiving a stay on his conviction should be considered an exception than a practice.
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as an MP in March after a Surat court convicted him for his remark during an election rally in Karnataka in April 2019, where he made a connection between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
The Congress leader’s plea for suspension of his conviction was dismissed by the Surat sessions court in March, upholding his disqualification under the rule that bars convicted MPs from holding Lok Sabha membership.