The Supreme Court of India issued notice to the complainant and Gujarat state government in a petition filed by Congress politician Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay of his conviction in a criminal defamation case on Friday.
The top court bench comprising of justices B.R. Gavai and P.K. Mishra has asked the complainant and the Gujarat government to reply within ten days.
The remarks from the Supreme Court came while hearing Gandhi’s plea challenging the Gujarat High Court verdict dismissing his application seeking a stay on conviction in the defamation case over his 'Modi' surname case.
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing on behalf of Gandhi, said that the Congress politician has suffered for 111 days, lost one parliament session, and is now losing another session due to his disqualification.
He further argued that elections to the parliament constituency of Wayanad could be announced soon.
After hearing Singhvi, the bench said that it had to hear both parties as the Gujarat High Court's order was a detailed one.
When Singhvi asked the court to give a short date to hear the matter, the court fixed the matter for further hearing on August 4.
The case pertains to the Congress politician’s 2019 remark during a poll rally in Karnataka where he said: “Why do all thieves have the Modi surname in common?”
Reacting to the remarks of the former Congress chief, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi approached the court and alleged that the remarks had defamed the Modi community.
Hearing the plea filed by the BJP legislator, a lower court in Gujarat convicted Gandhi of criminal defamation and sentenced him to two years.
Following the conviction, Gandhi was disqualified as the parliamentarian.
However, he challenged the local court’s decision in Gujarat High Court but it refused to decline his plea for stay on the conviction relying upon “extraneous and irrelevant factors” like the pendency of similar cases against him.