Defamation case: Surat Court grants bail to Rahul Gandhi till April 13; check details

Surat's Sessions Court on Monday (April 1) extended Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's bail till next date of hearing, April 13 in defamation case. The 52-year-old Congress leader reached Surat in the afternoon via a scheduled commercial flight along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and proceeded to the sessions court to appeal against the ruling of a lower court.

Last month, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by the lower court and it sentenced him to prison for two years for a speech in which he linked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's last name with two fugitive businessmen, remarking how the "thieves" shared the same last name.

The sessions court had granted him bail for 30 days to appeal the verdict. A day later, he was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha. Gandhi, who had served as an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, during the Lok Sabha elections campaign.

The sentence of two years under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500 invited his disqualification from the membership of Parliament under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The RP Act holds that an MP or a member of the legislative Assembly (MLA) convicted for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.

Following his disqualification, Gandhi would not be able to contest elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.