A Court in India on Thursday rejected Rahul Gandhi’s appeal seeking a stay and suspension of the lower court order which convicted him in the 2019 defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail.
The Surat sessions court heard both sides on April 13 and reserved the verdict for April 20. If the court today stayed or suspended Rahul Gandhi’s conviction, the Congress leader could have been reinstated in Parliament.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party will continue to avail all options still available under the law.
Following Rahul Gandhi’s conviction for his statement ‘why all thieves have Modi surname in common’, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
In his appeal, Rahul Gandhi told the sessions court that there was no need for the maximum punishment, The trial was not fair, his lawyer told the court. The judgement by the magistrate was “strange” because the trial court judge “made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record”, Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer told the court.
Opposing his plea, complainant Purnesh Modi said Rahul Gandhi is a repeat offender and he refused to apologise for the comment.
Source: Hindustan Times