Ranchi: A day after the Gujarat High Court refused to grant an interim stay on the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a Jharkhand court on Wednesday rejected his plea seeking exemption from personal appearance in connection with the same defamation case over ‘Modi surname’ remark.
This comes weeks after a Surat court convicted Rahul Gandhi in the same case and sentenced him to two years in jail. Following his conviction, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Parliament.
Advocate Pradip Modi had filed a complaint in a Ranchi court in 2019 after Rahul made the ‘Modi’ remark during a public rally in Karnataka’s Kolar ahead of the 2019 elections.
“Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi… how come they all have Modi as the common surname? How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Rahul had said.
The complainant, who alleged that Rahul’s remarks were derogatory and defamatory, had also filed a defamation suit against him.
Two more defamation cases are pending against Rahul in Jharkhand — one at Chaibasa and a second one in Ranchi.
BJP leader and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi was the one who filed a complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat, accusing Rahul of having defamed everyone with the name Modi.
A Surat court sentenced Rahul to two years in jail. The court will give an order on his petition to stay the order on June 4, post the summer vacation.
