Surat court’s judgement in defamation case against Rahul erroneous, unsustainable: Co
Surat court’s judgement in defamation case against Rahul erroneous, unsustainable: Congress
m.u.h
24/03/2023401
Reacting to the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case by a Surat court, Congress on March 23 said that all the attempts to restrict speech related to the public interest will not stop the party and its leaders.
“We believe the judgement is full of errors and legally unsustainable. Rahul Gandhi’s speech was in the context of price rise and unemployment. The judgement has disturbing aspects, which is subject to challenge immediately,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
A Surat court on March 23 held Congress MP Rahul Gandhi guilty in a 2019 defamation case and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. The court approved Gandhi’s bail on a surety of Rs 15,000 and stayed the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal.
The case pertains to the alleged remarks made by Rahul on April 13, 2019, at a Lok Sabha election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar where he said, “Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi?”
He said that the context of Rahul’s speech clearly shows there was no malicious intent.
“A leader of the political party of India with a pan-India footprint was speaking about unemployment, price rise, political issues in the course of which there is a sentence which has been found to be offending,” said Singhvi.
He alleged that after the complaint was filed, the matter was taken up by a magistrate, but the complainant took a large chunk of time in going to a higher court and getting a stay of the entire proceedings.
Singhvi said that the speech was made at Kolar in Karnataka and there is an established provision, which has been elaborated in various Supreme Court judgements regarding Section 202.
“The section prevents without jurisdiction mischievous prosecution complaints in areas where no cause of action has arisen. Kolar speech has no connection with Surat and Section 202 cannot be nullified,” said Singhvi.
He accused the BJP government of relying on techniques to throttle voices inside and outside the Parliament.
“The conviction in the case of Rahul Gandhi is erroneous and unsustainable judgement. It will be challenged and we are hopeful that it will be stayed and ultimately quashed,” added Singhvi.
