Modi surname remark: Surat court rejects Rahul plea to stay conviction

A Surat sessions court on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark. This would mean that Gandhi would continue to stand disqualified from Lok Sabha.

The court of additional sessions judge RP Mogera rejected Gandhi's application filed for a relief pending his appeal against a lower court's order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case.

Soon after the verdict, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party will continue to avail all options still available under the law.

On April 3, Gandhi filed his appeal before the sessions court against the magistrate's verdict. He was subsequently granted bail till the disposal of his plea.

Gandhi, in his appeal filed in the sessions court against the conviction and two-year jail term handed last month, submitted he was treated harshly by the trial court which was overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP, and maintained there is no such thing as a definite Modi samaj or community on record.

The former Congress president said, "It appears reasonable to argue that the applicant was really sentenced in a manner so as to attract the order of disqualification (as an MP)."

Rahul was convicted over his remarks, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

Gandhi (52), elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, was convicted in the criminal defamation case on March 23 by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma and sentenced to two years in jail. The magistrate's court had granted him bail for 30 days to appeal the verdict. A day later, he was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

with PTI inputs