New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi, the petitioner in the case against Rahul Gandhi over his 'Modi surname remark' on Friday said that they would continue the legal battle even as he welcomed the judgment of the top court.
"See in 2019, the then Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi in a rally in Bengaluru insulted the Modi surname. That time, we filed a case in a Surat Court, which convicted him and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. He approached the Gujarat High Court, which ruled in our favour. He then approached the Supreme Court. Today, the Supreme Court has stayed Rahul Gandhi's condition. We will continue the legal battle," Modi told reporters in the national capital minutes after the Supreme Court ruling.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi conviction stayed: Congress welcomes Supreme Court verdict says justice has prevailed; party workers celebrate
The order by the Supreme Court paves the way for Rahul Gandhi to be reinstated as a Member of Parliament (MP). A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha, and Sanjay Kumar said the trial court judge should have given some reason to impose a maximum sentence of two years on Rahul Gandhi in the case. The bench observed that the trial court and Gujarat High Court spent volumes of pages in writing the judgment but gave no reason why they are imposing a maximum sentence.
The bench further said a person in public life is expected to apply a degree of caution while making public speeches. Citing the apex court judgment in the Rafale matter where Rahul Gandhi apologised for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the bench said that had the judgment of the apex court come earlier, the petitioner would have been more careful and expressed a degree of restraint over the alleged defamatory remarks.
