New Delhi: A Gujarat court docket on Thursday (March 23, 2023) sentenced Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to 2 years in jail in a 2019 prison defamation case filed in opposition to him over his ‘Modi surname’ remarks. The Surat court docket of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, which held Gandhi responsible underneath Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500, additionally granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to permit him to enchantment in the next court docket.
The case was filed in opposition to Gandhi, who was current within the court docket when the decision was pronounced, for his alleged ‘how come all of the thieves have Modi because the frequent surname’ remarks whereas addressing a rally in Karnataka in 2019.
Meanwhile, the previous Congress chief took to his official social media accounts and posted a quote from Mahatma Gandhi.
“My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising him,” Rahul wrote one among Mahatma Gandhi’s quotes in Hindi on his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
मेरा धर्म सत्य और अहिंसा पर आधारित है। सत्य मेरा भगवान है, अहिंसा उसे पाने का साधन।
– महात्मा गांधी
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 23, 2023
Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case Started After Purnesh Modi’s Complaint
It is notable that the case in opposition to Rahul Gandhi was filed on a criticism lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.
In his criticism, Modi alleged that Gandhi, whereas addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka forward of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, defamed your complete Modi neighborhood by purportedly saying, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
The ultimate arguments within the defamation case in opposition to Rahul Gandhi resumed final month after the Gujarat High Court vacated its keep on proceedings imposed on plea by the complainant demanding Congress MP’s private look.
Gandhi had final appeared earlier than the Surat court docket within the case in October 2021 to file his assertion. Before that, he had appeared in court docket to plead not responsible to fees levelled in opposition to him.
Gandhi’s lawyer has argued that the court docket proceedings have been “flawed” from the start because the process laid down underneath part 202 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) was not adopted.
The lawyer additionally argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and never BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, ought to have been the complainant within the case as a result of the PM was the principle goal of Gandhi’s speech.
