Defamation case not serious, courts erred: Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer | India News – Times of India
A Surat city court convicted Gandhi on March 23 in a defamation suit filed by BJP’s Surat (west) MLA Purnesh Modi over the senior Congress member’s remarks in a 2019 election speech in which he asked: “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi…How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
Advocate Singhvi said the case is “neither serious in nature nor of moral turpitude” and is a “non-cognizable and bailable offence”.
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He submitted that the trial court committed errors because there is no identifiable class of people, vis-a-vis the Modi comment. There are 13 crore people falling under castes and sub-castes that the complainant claimed, and anybody can sue him. The people mentioned by Gandhi have not objected and others did not have locus. For its part, the Gujarat government asserted that Gandhi’s offence was serious. Complainant Purnesh Modi questioned the maintainability of Gandhi’s application, saying the plea was filed under wrong provisions of the law.
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After a Surat sessions court refused to stay the conviction recorded by a magisterial court, while sentencing him to imprisonment for two years, Gandhi moved the HC. Justice HM Prachchhak began hearing the petition after Justice Gita Gopi recused herself from the case.
Justice Prachchhak asked the parties to make final submissions on Tuesday, “I will complete this matter because I am going out of India on May 5.”
When Singhvi argued that Gandhi is facing irreversible damage, losing his seat in Parliament and disqualification, the judge commented that greater duty is cast on him towards the people at large, and he should make statements within limits. Singhvi argued that the court practically did not conduct an inquiry under Section 202 of the CrPC.
