Decision will come on April 20 on Rahul Gandhi’s application
A hearing was held in the Surat Sessions Court on Thursday (April 13) on a petition seeking a stay on the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case. Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer argued in the court that the trial in the defamation case filed against the Congress leader over the remark related to Modi surname was not fair and there was no need to impose maximum punishment in this case. The Surat Court of Gujarat will give its verdict on this petition on 20 April.
A court of the Metropolitan Magistrate in Surat convicted Rahul Gandhi on March 23 and sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a criminal defamation case filed against him for his remark on the Modi surname made at an election rally on April 13, 2019. Rahul had said in the election rally, “How is Modi the equal of all thieves?”
What arguments were given in the court?
BJP MLA and complainant Purnesh Modi, in his reply filed earlier in the same court, had opposed Rahul Gandhi’s plea saying that the Congress leader is a repeat offender and has a habit of making derogatory statements. In the court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera, both the parties presented their arguments on Thursday. Senior advocate RS Cheema, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, told the judge that the trial was not fair.
What did Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer say?
He said the magistrate’s order was strange as the trial court judge mixed up all the evidence available on record. Cheema said on behalf of Rahul Gandhi that this was not a fair trial. The whole case is based on electronic evidence, in which I gave a speech during the election and a person sitting 100 kms away filed a complaint after seeing it in the news. There was no need to impose maximum sentence in this case.
“Tried to humiliate everyone with Modi surname”
He said that the unconditional apology of Rahul Gandhi (in the Rafale contempt case) in the Supreme Court was wrongly linked by the complainant to this case. Arguing against Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on the conviction, Purnesh Modi’s lawyer Harshit Tolia said that Rahul Gandhi through his remarks had tried to discredit all people with the Modi surname and that is why his client felt bad
He said that when he (Gandhi) gave the speech, he was the president of the second largest party. His speech influenced the people of India on a large scale and he also tried to sensationalize his speech. Tolia said that Rahul Gandhi talked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech, but he did not stop here. After this he said that why all the thieves are named Modi only? Search and you will find more Modis. My client was offended by this part of the speech and hence made a complaint.
“Continuously making such derogatory statements”
He informed the court that Rahul Gandhi had refused to apologize for his remarks. Tolia said that Rahul Gandhi is also facing other similar defamation cases in the country and despite tendering an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court in the past (in the Rafale case), he is making such defamatory statements. Rahul Gandhi was an MP from Wayanad in Kerala before his conviction. He had made remarks related to the Modi surname while addressing a rally in Kolar, Karnataka on April 13, 2019, during the Lok Sabha election campaign.
The court will give its verdict on April 20
Responding to Cheema’s argument about the jurisdiction of the case in view of Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Karnataka, Tolia said that no such objection was raised earlier during the trial before the magistrate, but now the issue has been raised. Used to be. The court has also made the state government a party in this case. Rahul Gandhi has also requested a stay on the conviction. Now the court will give its verdict on this on 20 April.
