Surat court junks Rahul Gandhi's plea for stay on conviction in defamation case
NEW DELHI/SURAT: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea for stay of conviction in a criminal defamation case was rejected by a Surat court on Thursday. The court of additional sessions judge R.P. Mogera rejected Mr Gandhi's plea for a stay on conviction which, if allowed, could have paved the way for his reinstatement as a Member of Parliament. Mr Gandhi’s lawyer Kirit Panwala said the sessions court’s order will be challenged in the Gujarat high court.
While dismissing Mr Gandhi’s application, the court said his counsel had failed to demonstrate that an “irreversible and irrevocable damage” is likely to be caused to him if he is denied the opportunity to contest elections under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 on account of his conviction not being stayed.
In its order, the court said the power accorded under Section 389 (1) of the CrPC to suspend/stay the conviction is required to be exercised “with caution and circumspection” as observed by the Supreme Court in a number of pronouncements. “If such power is exercised in a casual and mechanical manner, the same would have serious impact on the public perception on the justice delivery systems and such order will shake public confidence in the judiciary,” it said. The court observed that the appellant had not made out any case to suspend the conviction recorded against him.
In his submission, Mr Gandhi had said if the March 23 judgment of the trial court is not suspended and stayed, it will cause “irreparable damage” to his reputation. The Congress leader had said he was sentenced in a manner so as to attract the order of disqualification because the trial court was well aware of his status as a parliamentarian. Opposing his plea, MLA Purnesh Modi told the court that Mr Gandhi was a “repeat offender” with several cases of criminal defamation against him going on in different courts across the country. He said the way Mr Gandhi had come to file his appeal showed “extraordinary arrogance”.
A metropolitan magistrate’s court here on March 23 sentenced Mr Gandhi to two years in jail after convicting him under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal defamation in the case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi. Mr Gandhi’s lawyer Kirit Panwala said the sessions court’s order will be challenged in Gujarat high court. He also said the sessions court has set May 20 as the date to begin hearing his appeal against the lower court’s March 23 order. The Congress said that it will explore all legal options available to them.
Congress MP and senior advocate Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi said: “The order of the sessions court that has come is legally wrong it will soon be challenged. There are serious legal errors in the order.” Mr Singhvi added that the Congress is clear that the “judgments are devoid of valid and sustainable legal reasoning”. The one-line remark of Rahul Gandhi in a two-and-a-half-page-long speech “has been from inception completely distorted out of recognition to serve narrow ends of motivated complainants”, he said, adding that the voice of Rahul Gandhi is not to be silenced in the manner the BJP thinks it can do. “The BJP has been, in a sense, from Mr Modi to the government to the ruling party, captured in a fear psychosis,” he said.
Hailing the court’s order as a “victory” of the judiciary and the people, the BJP claimed that the court’s decision was “a blow” to the arrogance of the Gandhi family, “especially Rahul Gandhi”. Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said: “The Surat court rejecting Rahul Gandhi’s plea to stay his conviction in the defamation case has once again proved that the Congress dynast intentionally insulted the OBC community of India in the name of abusing and attacking PM Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi still has time to seek an apology from the nation.”
