It’s a big day for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the Supreme Court on Friday stayed his conviction in Modi surname case, paving way for him to return to Parliament and also fight elections due next year.
A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha and Sanjay Kumar said there is no doubt that the utterances were not in good taste and that a person in public life is expected to exercise caution while making public speeches.
“No reason has been given by the trial judge for imposing maximum sentence, the order of conviction needs to be stayed pending final adjudication,” the bench said.
Reacting to the development. Priyanka Gandhi said on Twitter, “‘Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth ~Gautama Buddha’.” The Congress general secretary thanked the apex court for the decision and wrote “Satyameva Jayate”.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Gandhi in apex court, said that the senior Congress leader’s comments on Modi surname is not an offence against society. “It’s neither rape nor murder, and yet maximum punishment?” Singhvi asked.
“This is the first time 30 crore people have held to be an identifiable class. They are amorphous, non-homogenous. Communities, castes and groups with appellation ‘Modi’ are totally different,” Gandhi’s lawyer said. Replying to the argument, the Supreme Court said, “For the stay on conviction, you’ll have to say some more.”
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for complainant Purnesh Modi, read Rahul Gandhi’s remark in the apex court and said, “His intention was to defame every person with the surname ‘Modi’ just because it is the same as that of a prime minister. You have defamed an entire class out of malice.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also told the Supreme Court that the original surname of former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi, who filed a defamation case against him, is not Modi and he belongs to the Modh Vanika Samaj.
Singhvi told a three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha and Sanjay Kumar that his client is not a hardened criminal and there is no conviction in any case despite several cases filed against him by BJP workers.
The top court is hearing a plea by Gandhi challenging the Gujarat High Court verdict which dismissed his plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.
Purnesh Modi had filed a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Gandhi over his “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remark made during an election rally in Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.
(with inputs from PTI)
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