SC to hear tomorrow Rahul's appeal against Gujarat HC verdict in defamation case

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Friday Congress leader Rahul Gandhis appeal against the Gujarat High Court verdict dismissing his plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case over his Modi surname remarkA bench of justices B R Gavai and P K Mishra will likely take up the matter tomorrowA bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud had on July 18 agreed to hear Gandhis plea after senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi mentioned the matter and sought urgent hearingIn his appeal Gandhi has said if the July 7 HC judgment is not stayed it will lead to throttling of free speech expression thought and statementPurnesh Modi a former minister in the Gujarat government had filed a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Gandhi over his how all thieves have Modi as the common surname remark made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13 2019 He was apparently referring to businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi two fugitive prominent businessmen wanted in IndiaGandhi has said in his plea he will suffer irreparable injury if the HC order is not stayed He has said an irreversible consequence of not staying the order will result in injustice as because of the conviction he currently stands disqualified as a Member of Parliament from Wayanad in Kerala and cannot participate in parliamentary proceedingsGandhi as an interim relief has sought an adinterim exparte stay of the July 7 order of the Gujarat High court during the pendency of this appeal in the top courtThe Congress leader was disqualified as an MP on March 24 after a Gujarat court convicted and sentenced him to twoyear imprisonment on the charge of criminal defamation for comments he made about the Modi surnameIn a setback to the 53yearold Gandhi the high court had dismissed his petition for a stay on conviction on July 7 observing that purity in politics is the need of the hourA stay on Gandhis conviction could have paved the way for his reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP but he failed to get any relief from either the sessions court or the Gujarat High CourtA metropolitan magistrates court in Surat had on March 23 sentenced the former Congress president to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code IPC sections 499 and 500 criminal defamationFollowing the verdict Gandhi was disqualified as an MP under the provisions of the Representation of the People ActGandhi challenged the order in a sessions court in Surat and filed an application seeking a stay on his convictionWhile granting him bail the Surat sessions court had on April 20 refused to stay the conviction following which he approached the high courtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever