Modi surname remarks case: Jharkhand High Court grants relief to Rahul Gandhi; Patna HC adjourns hearing till Jan. 12 next year

The Jharkhand also directed against coercive action againt Rahul Gandhi in the case.

Patna: The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday granted relief to Rahul Gandhi in the Modi surname remarks case even as the Patna High Court adjourned the hearing in the case till Jan. 12 next year. The Jharkhand High Court exempted Rahul Gandhi from physical hearing in the case. A bench of Justice S K Dwivedi exempted Rahul from personal appearance and directed against any coercive action against Rahul in the case.

The next hearing of the case will be on August 16. Earlier, a MP/MLA court had issued summons to Rahul and directed him to appear in the court today on July 4. This was challenged by Rahul Gandhi in the High Court. Rahul Gandhi's lawyer Kaushik Sarkhel said that the High Court has given two weeks time to petitioner Pradeep Modi to file a reply in this regard.

The case is related to Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Karnataka. During his election speech, Rahul had questioned “why all thieves happen to be Modis”. Following the speech multiple defamation cases were filed by BJP leaders and supporters against Rahul Gandhi.

The petitioners said that Rahul had “insulted” the entire Modi community. In one of the defamation cases filed by Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, the Patna High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing in the case till Jan. 12 next year. While hearing the matter, Justice Sandeep Kumar made it clear that the stay on the order of the lower court will continue till further orders.

The court had on May 15 postponed the hearing in the case till July 4, that is today. Earlier, while hearing the same case, the MP-MLA court of Patna had ordered the Congress leader to appear physically in the case. However, Rahul Gandhi challenged the said order of the MP/MLA Court in the Patna High Court.

While hearing the matter, a single bench of Patna High Court Justice Sandeep Kumar had given relief to Rahul Gandhi. The court had exempted the Congress leader from the order of the MP/MLA court to appear physically in the case.