A session court in Surat will pronounce its verdict on April 20 on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s appeal to stay his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case.

On Thursday, court of additional sessions judge R P Mogera after hearing arguments from both sides, said he will pronounce the order on April 20.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on March 23 sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail by a court of metropolitan magistrate in Surat after holding him guilty for his remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname" made during an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar back in 2019.

After his conviction, Gandhi who was disqualified as a member of Parliament from Lok Sabha. He was also served notice to vacate his official bungalow in Delhi which was allotted to him as a member of Parliament.

According to reports, Rahul filed an appeal calling his conviction as “erroneous” and patently perverse. His lawyer R.S. Cheema argued that the trial was “not fair” and that there was no need for maximum punishment in the case.

Lawyer Cheema said that the magisterial court should have heard Mr. Gandhi’s entire speech, which according to him was not defamatory, arguing that it was quoted out of context to make a case for defamation. He added that the judgement by the magistrate was “strange”, because the magisterial court “made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record.”

“It was not a fair trial. The entire case was based on electronic evidence, wherein I made a speech during elections and a person sitting 100 km away filed a complaint after watching that in the news. There was no need for maximum punishment in this case,” Cheema argued.

“If someone says you Punjabis are quarrelsome and abusive, etc., then can I go and file a defamation case? Such words are often used for Gujaratis, other linguistic groups, religious entities, etc.” Gandhi’s lawyer told the court, emphasising that there was no defamation case made out in the first place.

BJP legislator Purnesh Modi, the original complainant, called Gandhi a “repetitive offender” and has opposed Gandhi’s plea for a stay on the conviction.

Lawyer Cheema submitted that the complainant wrongly attached the Supreme Court case in which Rahul Gandhi had tendered an unconditional apology regarding the Rafale contempt case. According to lawyer Cheema, his client’s apology to the Supreme Court for his “Chowkidar chor hai” comment was in November 2019, while the “Modi surname” comment was made in April 2019.

“So how can the judge rely on the proceedings where the complainant has said I was admonished by the top court?” Mr. Cheema contended.

Arguing against Gandhi, Advocate Harshit Toliya said that his client was offended by Gandhi’s speech as Gandhi tried to defame all people with the Modi surname through his remarks and therefore he came to the court.

"He (Gandhi) was the president of the second largest party at the time of making the speech. His speech made a huge impact on the people of India and he also tried to sensationalise his speech," said Toliya.

“In his speech, Rahul Gandhi spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But he didn’t stop there and went beyond it. He then said, “ Saare choron ke naam Modi hi kyu hai? Dhoondho aur bhi Modi milenge (Why do all thieves have the Modi surname? If you search, you will find more such Modis). My client was hurt by this part of the speech and thus the complaint,” he added.

He also contended that Gandhi had refused to apologise for his remarks before the court, adding that he was facing a similar defamation case elsewhere as well.

Source- The Hindu