Rahul Gandhi had stated “How come all thieves share the Modi surname?”
Surat:
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was discovered responsible and sentenced to 2 years in jail on Thursday in a 2019 felony defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname by a court docket in Gujarat’s Surat. He was additionally granted bail for 30 days and allowed to enchantment the choice.
Mr Gandhi arrived in Surat earlier within the day and was obtained by prime leaders of the Congress’s Gujarat unit. Supporters and members of the occasion turned out at varied spots within the metropolis as a present of energy and help for Mr Gandhi, with posters extolling him as ‘Sher-e-Hindustan’ (Lion of India) and placards declaring that the “Congress will not bow before the dictatorship of the BJP” on show.
The case was filed in opposition to Mr Gandhi by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying “How come all thieves share the Modi surname?”
The Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad made the remarks whereas addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka forward of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, targetting PM Modi over his final title which he shares with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
The court docket of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma had final week concluded listening to ultimate arguments from each side and stated it could pronounce its judgment at the moment within the four-year-old defamation case, Mr Gandhi’s lawyer Kirit Panwala had stated.
“Truth is put to test and is harassed, but truth alone prevails. Several false cases have been filed against Gandhi, but he will emerge from all these. We will get justice,” stated senior Congress chief and MLA Arjun Modhwadia on Thursday.
Mr Gandhi had final appeared earlier than the Surat court docket within the case, in October 2021 to report his assertion.
In his grievance, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi alleged that Mr Gandhi, whereas addressing the ballot rally in 2019, defamed all the Modi group.
Purnesh Modi was a minister within the first tenure of the Bhupendra Patel authorities. He was re-elected from the Surat West Assembly seat within the December elections.
Mr Gandhi’s lawyer has argued the court docket proceedings had been “flawed” from the start. The lawyer additionally argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and never MLA Purnesh Modi, ought to have been the complainant within the case as a result of the PM was the primary goal of Gandhi’s speech.