Rahul Gandhi Moves Supreme Court against Gujarat High Court’s Order in “Modi Surame” Case

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, July 15: The former Congress national president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat High Court’s order upholding his conviction in the criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark, which led to his disqualification as a Member of the Lok Sabha earlier this year.

Gandhi, who was elected from Wayanad in Kerala, was disqualified as an MP on March 24, 2023 after the Surat magisterial court convicted him and sentenced him to two-years in jail on charges of criminal defamation for his “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remark made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

A stay on Mr Gandhi’s conviction could pave the way for his reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP. However, he has not received any relief from either the Surat sessions court or the Gujarat High Court.

The complainant Purnesh Modi, a BJP member of the Gujarat Assembly from Surat and former minister, has already filed a caveat in the Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if the Congress leader moves a plea in the apex court challenging the high court verdict.

The high court had dismissed Gandhi’s appeal, saying “it is now the need of the hour to have purity in politics.” It also noted that the representatives of the people should be “men of clear antecedent” and that a stay on conviction was not a rule but an exception resorted to only in rare cases and there was no reasonable ground to stay his conviction. “Rahul Gandhi is seeking a stay on conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds,” the court added, observing that refusal to stay the conviction would not in any way result in injustice to the applicant.

In his order on July 7 Justice Hemant Prachchhak noted that Gandhi at the time when he was addressing the election rally at Kolar was a MP, president of the second largest national political party which ruled the country for more than 50 years, and that he “made a false statement in the election with clear intention to affect the result of the election.”

Among several observations, the High Court noted that “the offence committed by the accused falls in the category of moral turpitude” and that the “need of the hour” is to “have purity in politics”.

Earlier dismissing Gandhi’s appeal against the magisterial court’s conviction, the Surat district and sessions court had said Gandhi’s counsel failed to prove that “irreversible and irrevocable damage would be caused to the appellant (Gandhi)” if the conviction was not stayed. Disagreeing with the objections raised by Gandhi’s counsel to the maintainability of Purnesh Modi’s complaint, the court felt that the “derogatory” remarks “certainly harmed his (Purnesh Modi’s) reputation” and caused him “pain and agony.” Rahul Gandhi has maintained that there was no malafide intention on his part when he made the statement in question.

The High Court verdict sparked a political row with the Congress saying it would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court and the BJP saying Gandhi was a “habitual offender” in insulting people, pointing to his comments on the Modi surname before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that prompted the criminal defamation case and eventually cost him his Lok Sabha seat. “The present conviction is a serious matter affecting a large segment of society and needs to be viewed by this court with the gravity and significance it commands,” Justice Prachchhak had said.

On March 23, 2023, the chief judicial magistrate court in Surat convicted and sentenced Gandhi to two years imprisonment, following which he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha. However, his sentence was suspended, and he was also granted bail on the same day to enable him to move an appeal against his conviction within 30 days. After nearly two years of stagnation in the courts, the case against Gandhi was resumed earlier this year, leading to his conviction for defamation in March.

The 53-year-old Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Member of Parliament under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. There are 10 cases pending against Rahul Gandhi. A complaint has also been filed against him by the grandson of Veer Savarkar in Pune Court after Gandhi used terms against Veer Savarkar at Cambridge.