Rahul Defamation case: Surat court rejects plea for stay on conviction, upholds 2-year jail term

Rahul Gandhi. Pic/PTI

A Surat court on Thursday, April 20, upheld 2-year jail term for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case. The court dismissed Rahul Gandhi's plea for stay on conviction in defamation case.

Media reports say that Rahul Gandhi is set to move to Gujarat High Court tomorrow, April 21, in connection to the defamation case.

Earlier on On April 3, the Congress leader was granted bail by the Surat Sessions after he had filed an appeal following his conviction in the case.

Rahul Gandhi, a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad, was disqualified after a lower court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi.

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The case was in coonection to a comment made by Rahul Gandhi taking the surname 'Modi' while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At a rally in Karnataka in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?".

Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA is automatically disqualified if convicted and sentenced to two years or more.

Ever since Rahul Gandhi disqualification, there has been a political uproar across the country with leaders from both opposition and ruling partly indulging in war of words.