New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to complainant Purnesh Modi and the Gujarat government on a plea by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
A bench comprising justices B. R. Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra scheduled the matter for hearing on August 4. At the outset, Justice Gavai informed the lawyers about his family’s history of political association with the Congress party. He said, “My father was associated, though not a Congress member... but closely associated....my brother is still in politics…..”. Justice Gavai’s father, R.S. Gavai, was an activist, parliamentarian, governor and the founder of the Republican Party of India (Gavai).
Justice Gavai asked senior advocates A M Singhvi and Mahesh Jethmalani, “Please take a call if you want me to hear this”. The counsel urged justice Gavai to not opt out from hearing the matter. Justice Gavai said he is doing his duty and “I have to disclose this so there is no problem later on. I have been on the bench for 20 years. These things have never affected my judgment”.
The top court refused to entertain a request by Singhvi, representing Gandhi, for an “interim suspension” of the conviction. Justice Gavai asked, “At this stage, without hearing the other side, how can we give?”
Singhvi insisted that the matter is urgent and over 100 days have passed since Gandhi’s disqualification from the Parliament and stressed that Gandhi has already missed one session, and is unable to attend the ongoing monsoon sitting of the Parliament.
Singhvi said the by-elections for the Wayanad constituency could be announced any time and cited a constitutional mandate, under Section 151A of the Representation of People Act, to not allow the vacancy of a seat for more than six months. Jethmalani objected to Singhvi’s submissions. Singhvi replied, “your client needs to be bothered only about the conviction part and not the disqualification part.......”. Jethmalani sought time from the court to file written submissions on propositions of law in the case.
After hearing submissions, the top court said it will take up the case on August 4, and observed that it would have to decide whether the conviction deserves to be suspended or not. After the hearing in the matter, Justice Gavai, on a lighter note, said his father was good friends with the fathers of both Singhvi and Jethmalani.
On Saturday, the former Congress president moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat High Court's refusal to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark. Gandhi said he did not get a fair trial in the present case from the very beginning and if political satire were to be held to be a base motive, then any political speech which is colourfully critical of the government, would become an act of moral turpitude, which would completely corrode the foundations of democracy. The conviction in the case led to his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP earlier this year.
Gandhi’s plea said he has the right to criticize and comment upon the measures undertaken by the prime minister, who is his political opponent, and merely because he was critical or he had a different opinion, the complaint for defamation can’t be sustained against him. “it is in that context that the Petitioner addressed Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi as a thief for a substantial reason that the money of the poor people of the country was given away to Shri Anil Ambani. Neither complainant nor his witnesses say that the allegations in this regard were false. The Petitioner, if at all spoke as to why the surname of all thieves is Modi, he spoke of it in relation to this theme of mis-governance of Shri Modi and not in connection with any Modi samaj or persons holding Modi surname”, said the plea.
A stay on his conviction from the Supreme Court could pave the way for Gandhi's reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP. The criminal defamation case against Gandhi stemmed from his 2019 remark made during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi, representing Surat West, filed the case in response to Gandhi's statement questioning how "all thieves have Modi as the common surname”.
On March 23, 2023, a metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat convicted Gandhi under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which pertain to criminal defamation, and sentenced him to two years in prison.
Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, and he was disqualified as MP under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act after a metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation).
