Surat: A periods court docket right here on Thursday mentioned it will pronounce on April 20 the order on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s plea for a keep to his conviction in a legal defamation case over his (*20*) comment, made precisely 4 years in the past throughout a ballot rally. After listening to arguments from each side, further periods decide R P Mogera mentioned he’ll pronounce the order on April 20.
A metropolitan Justice of the Peace’s court docket in Surat had on March 23 sentenced the Congress chief to 2 years in jail after holding him responsible for his comment “how come all thieves have Modi as the common surname”, made throughout an election rally in 2019. Gandhi, who was disqualified as a Member of Parliament after the conviction, filed an enchantment earlier than the periods court docket right here in opposition to the decision.
Complainant opposes Gandhi’s plea
He additionally prayed for a keep to the conviction within the meantime. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi, the complainant within the case, opposed Gandhi’s plea for a keep in his reply, saying the Congress chief was a “repetitive offender”.
On Thursday, Gandhi’s lawyer senior advocate R S Cheema instructed periods decide R P Mogera that the trial court docket needn’t have awarded the utmost punishment prescribed for the offence. The Justice of the Peace’s judgement was “strange” as he “made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record”, Cheema argued.
Gandhi’s lawyer phrases trial ‘unfair’
“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,” he mentioned. The complainant wrongly connected Gandhi’s unconditional apology to the Supreme Court (within the Rafale-related contempt case) to this case, the lawyer mentioned.
Remarks in opposition to ‘Modi’ surname
Purnesh Modi’s lawyer Harshit Toliya mentioned his shopper felt offended as a result of Gandhi had tried to defame all folks with the Modi surname. “He 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,” advocate Toliya argued.
“In his speech, Rahul Gandhi spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But he did not stop there and went beyond it. He said “Saare choron ke naam Modi hello kyu hai? Dhoondho, aur bhi Modi milenge (Why all thieves have the Modi surname? If you search, you’ll discover extra Modis).” My client was hurt by this part of the speech and thus the complaint,” the lawyer added.
Gandhi additionally refused to apologise for his remarks, he identified. The Congress chief was additionally going through defamation instances elsewhere and had been making such defamatory statements regardless of tendering an unconditional apology within the Supreme Court up to now, Modi’s lawyer mentioned. Gandhi, who was the MP from Wayanad in Kerala, was disqualified as legislator following the conviction.
He made the controversial (*20*) comment at a rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, throughout the Lok Sabha elections marketing campaign. On Gandhi’s lawyer’s argument about jurisdiction (because the speech had been made in Karnataka), advocate Toliya mentioned no objection was raised on this concern throughout the trial.
“What is so special about this case? If a doctor is found guilty, the Medical Council acts against him. If a lawyer is caught for any wrongdoing, his license will be cancelled. Similarly, if a Member of Parliament is convicted, he will face disqualification. Everyone is equal before the law, be it an MP or a common citizen,” mentioned Toliya.
The court docket ought to present no leniency to him as regardless of being a senior chief of a political celebration Gandhi displayed ego and refused to tender apology for his feedback, the lawyer added.
