No relief for Rahul Gandhi; HC reserves order on plea seeking stay on conviction

 The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday denied interim protection to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who sought to suspend his conviction and jail term in the 'Modi surname' defamation case.

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday heard the plea filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay on his conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark. The Gujarat High Court will give the verdict after the summer vacation is over.

On March 23, a Surat metropolitan magistrate's court sentenced the former Congress president to two years in prison for violating Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) in a 2019 case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Gujarat MLA Purnesh Modi.

Following the verdict, Gandhi, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 from Wayanad in Kerala, was disqualified as a Member of Parliament under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act.

Gandhi, 52, filed an appeal with the Surat Sessions Court, coupled with a motion for a stay of execution. On April 20, the judge granted him bail but refused to stay the conviction.

Purnesh Modi filed a criminal defamation lawsuit against Gandhi on April 13, 2019, following his comment, 'How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?' during an electoral rally in Kolar, Karnataka.