Rahul Gandhi, a member of the Congress party, received a setback when the Gujarat High Court rejected his plea to suspend his conviction and two-year prison sentence in a criminal defamation case. This decision led to his loss of membership in Parliament. The court order means that Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, remains in effect.
Justice Hemant Prachchhak upheld the decision of a Gujarat sessions court, which had previously declined to halt a magisterial court order convicting Gandhi on March 23. The sessions court had given him the maximum punishment for criminal defamation as defined by the Indian Penal Code. The judge mentioned that there are eight other criminal cases pending against Gandhi and requested the sessions court to promptly decide on Gandhi’s appeal so that additional cases could be filed against him. One such case has already been filed by the grandson of Veer Savarkar. The high court emphasized that the conviction would not result in any injustice and stated that Gandhi’s request for a stay on his conviction was based on grounds that do not exist.
In March, a magisterial court found Gandhi guilty of making comments about the surname “Modi” before the 2019 national elections. He allegedly remarked, “How come all thieves have Modi surname in common.” As a result, Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment, leading to his disqualification as a Member of Parliament under the Representation of People Act. The Lok Sabha Secretariat officially disqualified him as an MP from Wayanad, Kerala, on March 24.
