Conviction In Modi Surname Case: Rahul Gandhi Moves Supreme Court For Relief

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Saturday filed a petition in Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat High Court’s refusal to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case in the Modi surname case.

The former Congress president was disqualified as Member of Parliament (MP) on March 24 following his conviction by a Surat court which sentenced him to two-year imprisonment on charges of criminal defamation.

Rahul landed in trouble for saying ‘How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname’ during an election rally at Karnataka’s Kolar on April 13, 2019.

The 53-year-old politician was hoping to have his conviction stayed, which could lead to his reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP. But no such relief was forthcoming from the sessions court or Gujarat High Court.

And now, the Congress leader has approached the country’s top court.

The complainant, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, earlier filed a caveat in Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if Rahul moves a petition challenging the high court verdict.

While dismissing Rahul’s plea, the high court had said, “It is now the need of the hour to have purity in politics”, adding that representatives of the people should be “men of clear antecedent” and that a stay on conviction is not a rule, but an exception resorted to only in rare cases.

“Rahul Gandhi is seeking a stay on conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds,” was the court’s scathing comment. The high court also observed that refusal to stay the conviction won’t, in any way, result in injustice to the applicant.

There are nine other cases pending against Rahul in different courts, including a complaint filed by the Veer Savarkar’s grandson for ‘insulting’ Savarkar and saying that he helped the British.