New Delhi: A Gujarat court on Thursday (March 23, 2023) sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his ‘Modi surname’ remarks. The Surat court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, which held Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500, also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.
The case was filed against Gandhi, who was present in the court when the verdict was pronounced, for his alleged ‘how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname’ remarks while addressing a rally in Karnataka in 2019.
Meanwhile, the former 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 of 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 against Rahul Gandhi was filed on a complaint lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.
In his complaint, Modi alleged that Gandhi, while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, defamed the entire Modi community by purportedly saying, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
The final arguments in the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi resumed last month after the Gujarat High Court vacated its stay on proceedings imposed on plea by the complainant demanding Congress MP’s personal appearance.
Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court in the case in October 2021 to record his statement. Before that, he had appeared in court to plead not guilty to charges levelled against him.
Gandhi’s lawyer has argued that the court proceedings were “flawed” from the beginning as the procedure laid down under section 202 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) was not followed.
The lawyer also argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and not BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, should have been the complainant in the case because the PM was the main target of Gandhi’s speech.
