Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 29: The Gujarat High Court on Saturday posted for May 2 the final hearing on the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging a Surat court order declining a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
The case was listed before Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the Gujarat High Court after Justice Geeta Gopi withdrew herself from hearing the case by saying “not before me.”
Justice Hemant Prachchhak took up the criminal revision application filed by Gandhi challenging the April 20 order of the Surat additional sessions court. If the High Court allows his plea, it could pave the way for Gandhi’s reinstatement as a Member of Parliament.
On Wednesday, High Court judge Justice Gita Gopi recused herself from hearing the case after it was brought before her for an urgent hearing. The matter was then assigned to the court of Justice Prachchhak.
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Mr Gandhi, told the High Court that “Very serious ex-facie vitiating factors of the trial raise grave apprehensions about the process of trial that led to the conviction.” “In the case of a public servant or a legislator, it has very serious additional irreversible consequences – to the person, the constituency, and also drastic consequences of re-election,” he told the court.
A metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat on March 23 sentenced the former Congress president to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) in a 2019 case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Gujarat MLA Purnesh Modi.
Following the verdict, Gandhi, elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, was disqualified as an MP under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. Gandhi, 52, had challenged the order in the Surat sessions court along with an application seeking a stay to the conviction. While granting him bail, the court on April 20 refused to stay the conviction.
The two-year jail sentence was enough to bar Gandhi from parliament. The law states that if a member is convicted of any offence for two or more years, his or her seat will be declared vacant. One can only stay in the parliament if the conviction is suspended.
In his appeal in the Surat court to freeze the conviction, Gandhi said the court treated him harshly and was overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP. The judge disagreed with Gandhi’s contention and said he had “Failed to that by not staying the conviction and denying an opportunity to contest the election, an irreversible and irrevocable damage will be caused to him.”
After the court setback, Rahul Gandhi vacated his official residence in Delhi. The Lok Sabha Housing Committee had sent him a letter to vacate his 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow, which he had since 2005.
In 2019 while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had said “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi”, targeting the Prime Minister over his surname, which he shares with fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.