Supreme Court rejects petition against reinstatement of Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership, imposes fine on petitioner

The Supreme Court has rejected the petition of former Congress President and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi challenging the restoration of Lok Sabha membership with a heavy fine. The apex court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on petitioner Ashok Pandey.

Justice B.R. The bench of Justice Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta said that this petition is an abuse of the process of law. No fundamental right of the petitioner has been violated here. The court, while hearing the petition of lawyer Ashok Pandey challenging the restoration of Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership, raised questions on his intentions.

Supreme Court gave relief to Rahul

The Supreme Court had given relief in the controversial speech case of Rahul Gandhi on August 4 last year. In that speech a comment was made on Modi surname. The Supreme Court had stayed the punishment given to Rahul in a petition related to the same case. Along with this, the court had also ordered the reinstatement of Rahul’s Lok Sabha membership, neutralizing the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s order disqualifying him from Lok Sabha membership.

In which case was Rahul Gandhi punished?

Rahul Gandhi had said in an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka on 13 April 2019, ‘Why is the surname of Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi common? Why do all thieves have the surname Modi?’ Regarding this statement of Rahul, BJP MLA and former minister Purnesh Modi had filed a criminal defamation case against him under section 499, 500. After this Rahul’s membership was lost.