Gandhinagar: The Gujarat High Court Friday dismissed the petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay on his conviction in “Modi” surname defamation case.
A Surat Court had in March this year found Rahul Gandhi “guilty” in a defamation case and pronounced the maximum punishment of two years in jail.
Following the Surat Court judgement, Rahul Gandhi was also disqualified as Member of Parliament by the Lok Sabha secretariat.
Rahul Gandhi however challenged the Surat Court’s order in Gujarat High Court and sought a stay on his conviction. The HC however dismissed his plea.
"There are no reasonable grounds to stay the conviction. The conviction is just, proper and legal", Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the Gujarat High Court said.
Justice Hemant cited another defamation case filed against Rahul Gandhi by the grandson of controversial Hindutva icon and RSS ideologue Vinayak Savarkar.
"It is needed to have purity in politics... A complaint has been filed against (Rahul Gandhi) by the grandson of Veer Savarkar in Pune Court after Gandhi used terms against Veer Savarkar at Cambridge," it said. "Refusal to stay conviction would not in any way result in injustice to the applicant. There are no reasonable grounds to stay conviction. The conviction is just, proper and legal”, Justice Hemant said.
"It is needed to have purity in politics... A complaint has been filed against (Rahul Gandhi) by the grandson of Veer Savarkar in Pune Court after Gandhi used terms against Veer Savarkar at Cambridge," it said.
"Refusal to stay conviction would not in any way result in injustice to the applicant. There are no reasonable grounds to stay conviction. The conviction is just, proper and legal”, Justice Hemant said.
Justice Hemant also said there were "as many as 10 cases pending" against Rahul Gandhi and he was "seeking a stay on absolutely non-existent grounds.”
"A stay on conviction is not a rule", said the judge.
Soon after the Gujarat High Court refused to stay Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in Modi surname defamation case, he moved to the Supreme Court.
"We Will move SC against Gujarat HC order dismissing Rahul Gandhi's plea to stay his conviction in defamation case", AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal said Friday.
"Rahul Gandhi's remarks were specifically against some people. He never insulted any community. We don't agree with the court verdict and will appeal further", Chattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo said.
Addressing a press conference later in the day, party leader and lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the case was "a matter of free speech and expression".
"These complaints have been filed by the workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)", he said. "The aim of this government is to control the freedom of expression. That is why the law of defamation has been misused", Singhvi said.
"These complaints have been filed by the workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)", he said.
"The aim of this government is to control the freedom of expression. That is why the law of defamation has been misused", Singhvi said.
Party president Mallikarjun Kharge said Gandhi was "fighting for truth" and would continue this fight.
The Congress Party workers meanwhile are protesting across India against what they called “vendetta politics”.
“Very unfortunate that justice has not prevailed. It is the murder of democracy”, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar said as the party workers protested and expressed solidarity with Rahul Gandhi after the HC verdict. “Still, the entire country and the Opposition parties stand by Rahul Gandhi. He is a great leader who is fighting across the country to unite it. BJP leaders are not able to tolerate this. They want to block him from Parliament. I feel he (Rahul Gandhi) will grow stronger”, he said.
“Very unfortunate that justice has not prevailed. It is the murder of democracy”, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar said as the party workers protested and expressed solidarity with Rahul Gandhi after the HC verdict.
“Still, the entire country and the Opposition parties stand by Rahul Gandhi. He is a great leader who is fighting across the country to unite it. BJP leaders are not able to tolerate this. They want to block him from Parliament. I feel he (Rahul Gandhi) will grow stronger”, he said.
Congress workers also protested in Delhi, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Mumbai. They also burnt Modi effigy at some places.
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