Ranchi (Jharkhand): After former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha, he now has been issued summonses by lower courts of Jharkhand for three cases registered against him. Of the three cases, one lodged by petitioner Pradeep Modi with petition number 17/2021 will be heard in the lower court of Ranchi on 1 April.
Whereas the reaming two cases were lodged over Gandhi's remarks on Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The cases were registered by petitioner Naveen Jha (petition number 16/2021) and petitioner Pradeep Kumar and the cases were registered in Ranchi MP-MLA court and Chaibasa court respectively. The petition registered by Pradeep Modi was earlier challenged by State Congress President Rajesh Thakur at the High Court but on January 17, Lower Court Judge Kumar Vipul had issued a summons to Gandhi after the High court rejected Thakur's plea.
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Subsequently, Naveen Jha filed the petition after Gandhi used the term 'murderer' for Amit Shah during the 2018 Congress session. The petition will be heard on April 5 after it was challenged in the Jharkhand High Court and the judge granted time to Jha to file the reply. However, the petition filed by Pradeep Kumar was also challenged in the High Court and the HC will direct the petition on April 3.
Gandhi was on Friday disqualified from Parliament, a day after his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case. The disqualification comes following his conviction by a Surat District Court in a defamation case which led to Rahul being sentenced to two years in jail. The charges stemmed from alleged remarks Gandhi made about the "Modi" surname during a pre-election rally in Karnataka's Kolar.
