Ahmedabad. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the Gujarat High Court on Saturday that the Congress leader’s conviction was based on “seriously flawed facts” regarding the trial process in a criminal defamation case involving Rahul Gandhi’s “Modi surname remark”.
ðSaghvi made this remark while appearing for Gandhi in the High Court. The High Court is hearing Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging the Surat sessions court’s order not to stay his conviction in a criminal defamation case. Justice Hemant Prachhak heard Gandhi’s criminal revision petition challenging the April 20 order of the sessions court.
If the High Court approves the petition, it could pave the way for Gandhi to be reinstated as a Member of Parliament. Earlier, the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing before the court of Justice Gita Gopi. Justice Gopi later recused himself from the hearing and the matter was then assigned to Justice Prachak.
Singhvi argued in the High Court that the conviction was due to “serious flawed facts” regarding the trial process. “In the case of a public servant or a Member of Parliament, it has very serious consequences for that person as well as the constituency, which cannot be reversed later. It also has dire consequences for re-election.
The Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Surat on March 23 indicted the former Congress president under sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a 2019 case filed by Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA in Gujarat. He was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.
Following the verdict, Gandhi was disqualified from membership of Parliament under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. Rahul Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 from Wayanad, Kerala. The Surat sessions court had on April 20 rejected his plea to stay the conviction of the Congress leader. Gandhi is currently out on bail in this case.
photo credit:The Hindu
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