Surat: A sessions court here on Thursday said it would pronounce on April 20 its order on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
After hearing arguments from both sides, additional sessions judge R P Mogera said he will pronounce the order on April 20.
A metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat had on March 23 sentenced the Congress leader to two years in jail after holding him guilty for his remark "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname" made during an election rally in 2019.
.jpg.transform/170x160/image.jpg "Lucknow Court issues notice to Rahul Gandhi over 'derogatory' remark against Savarkar")
Gandhi, who was disqualified as a Member of Parliament after the conviction, filed an appeal before the sessions court against the verdict. He also prayed for a stay to the conviction in the meantime.
Trail not fair, no need for maximum punishment: Rahul's lawyer
Rahul Gandhi's lawyer argued that the trial was "not fair" and there was no need for maximum punishment in the case.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and the complainant in the case, Purnesh Modi, in his reply filed earlier in the same court, had opposed Gandhi's plea for a stay on conviction saying the Congress leader is a "repetitive offender" who is in the habit of making defamatory statements.
On Thursday, arguments from both sides commenced in the court of Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera. Arguing for Gandhi, senior advocate R S Cheema told the judge that the trial was not "fair".
The judgement by the magistrate was "strange" because the trial court judge "made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record", Cheema said. "It was not a fair trial. The entire case was based on electronic evidence, wherein I made a speech during elections and a person sitting 100 km away filed a complaint after watching that in the news...There was no need for maximum punishment in this case," argued Cheema on behalf of Gandhi.
He also said that Gandhi's unconditional apology to the Supreme Court (in the Rafale contempt case) was wrongly attached to this case by the complainant.
Arguing against Gandhi's plea for a stay on conviction, Purnesh Modi's lawyer Harshit Toliya said his client felt offended because Gandhi had tried to defame all people with the Modi surname through his remarks. "He (Gandhi) was the president of the second largest party at the time of making the speech. His speech made a huge impact on the people of India and he also tried to sensationalise his speech," said Toliya.
"In his speech, Rahul Gandhi spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But he didn't stop there and went beyond it. He then said "Saare choron ke naam Modihi kyu hai? Dhoondho aur bhi Modi milenge (Why are all thieves have Modi surname? If you search, you will find more such Modis). My client was hurt by this part of the speech and thus the complaint," Toliya added.
He informed the court that Gandhi had refused to apologise for his remarks.
Toliya said Gandhi is facing similar defamation cases in the country and he is making such defamatory statements despite tendering an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court in the past (in the Rafale case).
(With PTI inputs)
