Surat: A sessions court in Surat heard Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay of his conviction in a defamation case over ‘Modi surname’ today. The sessions court had granted bail to Gandhi on April 3 and kept hearing on his plea for a stay of his conviction on April 13 .
The court had to decide whether to grant a stay on conviction in the case after both sides present their arguments before the court. Rahul’s lawyer, Cheema said in court, “My speech isn’t defamatory unless drawn out of context, looked under a magnifying glass to make it defamatory. Basically, litigation was inflicted upon me for daring to be vociferously critical of our PM”.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi took to his Twitter account and wrote “Income of poor decreased by 50%, rich class increased by 40%”
BJP’s MLA is the complainant in the criminal defamation case in which a metropolitan court in Surat sentenced Rahul Gandhi to two years of imprisonment on March 23 after holding him guilty over his 2019 remark. The remark, “how come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”, leading to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha. The MLA’s lawyer said that MLA had appeared before the court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera and filed a 30-page objection to the former Congress president.
Following Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, he would not be able to contest elections for upcoming 8 years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence. The 52-year old Gandhi was elected to the Lower House of Parliament from Wayanad in Kerela in 2019.