Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was granted bail by a Surat sessions court on Monday after he filed an appeal against his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his “all thieves have Modi as the common surname” remark in which he has been sentenced to two years in jail leading to his disqualification as a Lok Sabha member.
Rahul reached Surat in the afternoon, accompanied by his sister and party general secretary in Priyanka Gandhi, senior party leaders, battery of lawyers that made the day-long episode earning the former Congress chief criticism from the BJP.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera said it will hear Rahul’s plea for suspension of conviction on April 13 after issuing a notice to complainant Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and former Gujarat cabinet minister. The court asked Purnesh to file his reply by April 10.
Rahul will not be required to appear in the court during the hearing of the case and the matter is being led by noted lawyer RS Cheema.
Cheema is also handling Rahul’s and his mother Sonia Gandhi and others in the National Herald case.
“We had filed an application for Rahul Gandhi’s bail and suspension of sentence along with his appeal against conviction by a lower court. The court heard the matter and granted him bail. The court kept the matter for hearing on the stay of his conviction for April 13,” briefed KC Panwala, advocate for the Congress leader.
Besides Priyanka, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu were also present and accompanied Rahul in the bus from airport to the court where the matter came up for hearing around 3 pm.
Several Congress workers and leaders headed to the Gujarat city to extend support to the Gandhi scion but they claimed their vehicles were stopped, they were asked to pull over, and police were ensuring they did not capture the videos. Congress MLA Yashomati Thakur claimed the Gujarat Police stopped her vehicle multiple times and inspected it in the name of security checks and they also prevented the Gujarat party workers from expressing solidarity enroute.
Soon he was granted bail, Rahul took to social media and expressed this is a fight against “Mitrkaal” to save democracy and truth is his weapon in this struggle. “This is a fight against ‘Mitrkaal’ to save democracy. In this struggle, truth is my weapon, and truth is my support!,” tweeted Rahul. Rahul has been taking the ‘Mitrkaal’ jibe at the central government, accusing it of working to benefit its “crony capitalist friends”.
Congress leader and former Union Minister Shahshi Tharoor and Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh too responded saying it was an absurd allegation. Tharoor said Rahul is the principal political leader of a major Opposition party, so it is appropriate to put up a show of strength but ultimately, the soundness of the arguments of lawyers inside the courtroom is what prevails.
