Modi Surname Case: SC to hear Rahul Gandhi's plea against Gujarat court verdict today

livemint.com:

Rahul Gandhi against the Gujarat high court's verdict today, Friday, August 4. He is seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case related to his "Modi surname" remark. The Gujarat HC had earlier refused to put Rahul Gandhi's conviction on hold in a defamation case over Modi's surname remark case that took away his Lok Sabha membership.

On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his innocence before the Supreme Court and refused to apologize over the Modi surname case. He said that he has always maintained that he is not guilty of an offense and that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologize and compound the offense, he would have done it much earlier. Gandhi's affidavit contended that efforts were being made to ‘arm-twist’ him into rendering an apology.

The Congress leader told the apex court that ‘using the criminal process and the consequences under the Representation of Peoples Act’ to compel an apology was a ‘gross abuse of the judicial process’. The Congress leader had been convicted in March this year based on a complaint filed by Gujarat BJP MLA Purnesh Ishwarbhai Modi. The latter dubbed Gandhi ‘arrogant’ in a reply filed before the SC on Wednesday - prompting a sharp rebuke from the ousted MP.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday extended till September 26 the interim relief granted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from appearance before a local court here in a defamation complaint pertaining to his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. The criminal defamation case was filed against Rahul Gandhi in 2019 by Purnesh Modi, a former minister in the Gujarat government. The case was in response to Gandhi's statement during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, on