The Gujarat High Court on Friday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case related to his “Modi surname” remark. Justice Hemant Prachchhak, while dismissing the plea, said Rahul faces 10 criminal cases in various parts of India. The court upheld the lower court’s decision to sentence Rahul to two years in jail for his remarks, deeming it “just, proper, and legal”.
In response to the verdict, the Congress party announced its intention to challenge the Gujarat High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court. The party accused the Government of employing new tactics to stifle Rahul’s voice due to its discomfort with his truth-telling.
The Congress expressed determination to continue fighting the battle both legally and politically, considering the ruling a travesty of justice.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala criticised the court’s decision, labeling it a travesty of justice. “Instead of punishing ‘bank fraudsters’ like Nirav Modi, Ami Modi, Neeshal Modi, Mehul Choksi and ilk, the ‘messenger’ exposing the deceit and swindling of public money is being punished.”
Speaking at a press conference, Congress spokesperson and Gandhi’s counsel Abhishek Singhvi asserted that the ultimate court is the court of the people, and they can witness the orchestrated campaign against one individual.
“I will not reiterate the gymnastics that took place at the stage of trial, where the complainant got a one year stay on his own complaint, and then revived it after there was a change on the bench. And, it was that second magistrate, who proceeded to pass that order of conviction. Those are facts, and the facts speak for themselves,” he said.
“The more they have attempted to silence him (Rahul) through harassment by the ED and the CBI, the breach of privilege notices, the petty removal of SPG security to the disqualification from Parliament, the more he remains unmoved. And that is what exposes their fear,” he said.
Singhvi said this Government is rattled because Rahul speaks with facts and figures on demonetisation, the Government’s “clean chit” to China, and on the struggling economic situation.
“It is consistent aggression that has compelled the Government to find newer and newer techniques to throttle his voice...We are seeing this cycle of oppression and suppression play out once again. We will fight it. Rahul Gandhi will fight it. And if the last nine years are anything to go by, they will always fail to silence his vigilant voice,” Singhvi said.
Meanwhile, Rahul’s sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared a Hindi poem on Twitter, criticising the Government’s attempts to suppress the truth. She accused the regime of resorting to various means, including price, punishment, discrimination, deceit, and hypocrisy, to divert attention from public concerns.
Party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu voiced strong criticism of the Gujarat High Court’s verdict on Twitter, stating, “The law sometimes sleeps but never dies... You hang the doves and acquit the vultures... When the whistleblower is annihilated and those he exposes are protected, democracy is doomed!”
Ignoring Rahul’s plea for reprieve, the court said there were no reasonable grounds to stay the conviction and pointed out that Rahul was facing multiple pending criminal cases.
“After this complaint, another complaint was filed in a court in Pune by the grandson of Veer Savarkar for Rahul’s defamatory utterance against Veer Savarkar at Cambridge. Another complaint against him was filed in the concerned court of Lucknow,” it said. “
In this backdrop, refusal of stay on conviction would not in any way result in injustice to the applicant, the judge said.
“The Impugned order passed by the appellate court is just, proper and legal, and does not call for any interference. However, it is hereby requested by the concerned learned district judge to decide the criminal appeal on its own merits and in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible. In view of the above, the present criminal revision application deserved to be dismissed and accordingly it is dismissed,” the judge said.
While noting that there was no reasonable ground to stay the conviction at this stage, Justice Prachchhak also directed the district and sessions court of Surat to hear Rahul’s appeal against the conviction “as expeditiously as possible”.
