Gujarat HC upholds Gandhi’s conviction in defamation case
NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD : In a setback to Rahul Gandhi’s effort to regain his Lok Sabha membership, Gujarat High Court on Friday refused to suspend his conviction, and two-year prison sentence, in a criminal defamation case, saying that the Congress leader “breached the modesty", and “moral turpitude". The ruling sparked a political row with Congress deciding to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging he was a repeat offender in insulting people, highlighting his remarks on the Modi surname before the 2019 general elections that led to filing of a criminal defamation case, which cost him his Lok Sabha seat.
“It is a serious matter affecting a large segment of society and needs to be viewed by the court with the gravity and significance it commands...It is now the need of the hour to have purity in politics. Representatives of people should be men of clear antecedent," said justice Hemant P.
Prachchhak, while rejecting the Gandhi’s plea, seeking a stay on his conviction. The HC ruling ensures Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha continues.
While he will not be arrested since his jail sentence remains suspended for now, only a stay on his conviction by the Supreme Court or a favourable judgment by a sessions court will allow him to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Under the law, a conviction and two-year jail term bars Gandhi from entering both the houses of Parliament for a period of eight years.
But it can be reversed if the conviction is overturned or suspended by a higher court. The 125-page judgment on Friday stressed on the fact that being an MP, Gandhi had “bounden duty not to scandalise any person from the society" and the trial court “has not committed an error of
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