Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court on Thursday (march 23) in connection with a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks.
The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma sentenced him to two years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs. 15,000 after finding him guilty under Sections 499 (Defamation), 500 (punishment for Defamation) IPC. Almost immediately after being convicted, the Wayanad MP also secured bail in the case.
Reportedly the court suspended his sentence on his plea to enable him to move an appeal against his conviction within 30 days.
Notably, the case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi for making derogatory comments against the Modi community in Gujarat.
It may be recalled that during an election rally in the run-up to the 2019 elections in Koral, Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi had mocked an entire community by saying, “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi… how come they all have Modi as a common surname? How come all thieves have Modi as a common surname?”
The remarks were videographed by the video surveillance team and video viewing team, who were duly notified by the office of the Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, Kolar district.
Twice Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty in the defamation case filed against him for saying that all Modis are thieves
After the case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by the Gujarat MLA in April 2019, the Surrat Court in October 2019 found that there was prima facie a case of criminal defamation against him under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). had granted him an exemption from personal appearance. After the court issued a summons, Rahul Gandhi appeared in the court on 10 October 2019 and pleaded not guilty.
Responding to the defamation case against him, Rahul Gandhi had stated that the defamation case was filed against him by his political opponents, who were desperate to silence him.
In June 2021 Rahul Gandhi appeared before a magistrate’s court in Surat to record his final statement in the case.
During the hearing, the Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi denied making any defamatory remarks about people with the “Modi” surname. According to Desh Gujarat, a lawyer said that Rahul Gandhi responded to every question with, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know”.
Rahul Gandhi told the court that he mentioned the Modi surname only to highlight the misdeeds of PM Narendra Modi, and he was not defaming anyone else or any community. He had also claimed that as far as he knew, there wasn’t any community named Modi.
As the magistrate asked Rahul Gandhi if he had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving Rs 30 crore to an industrialist, the Congress leader claimed that he was a national leader who raises issues of corruption and unemployment in his addresses in the interest of the nation. The Gandhi-scion claimed that it was his right to raise such issues in the rallies.
“Gandhi said to the court that as a leader from the opposition it was his duty to highlight the misdeeds of the Prime Minister and that indeed he did by mentioning his surname, but as far as any other Modi was concerned, he never had any intention of defaming him or her,” Gandhi’s lawyer Kirit Panwala had said.
When the court asked if he had said all people with the Modi surname were thieves, Gandhi claimed he never said such words.
Prior to that, Rahul Gandhi had appeared before the court in October 2019 and had also pleaded not guilty for his comment.
Responding to the defamation case against him, Rahul Gandhi then stated that the defamation case was filed against him by his political opponents, who were desperate to silence him.
However, while he had denied defaming people with the Modi surname, the video of the speech clearly shows that Rahul Gandhi had named Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, ‘Chowkidar’ (Narendra Modi), and had asked how everyone with a Modi surname is a thief.
‘Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, tell me one thing, how come everyone among them is Modi, Modi, Modi Modi? They are all thieves’ he had said.
PM Modi hits back at Rahul Gandhi for calling everyone with name ‘Modi’ as a thief
Notably, days after the Congress dynast had attacked Prime Minister Modi by linking his surname with those of fugitive businessmen charged with corruption, Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, PM Modi slammed Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Maharashtra.
Modi said that several times Congress and its allies have targeted him for his humble background and caste and that he has endured such insults for many years but if someone tried to insult the chowkidars, the backward classes, the Dalits or Adivasis, he would not tolerate it.
Accusing Gandhi of calling the entire backward community thieves, the PM condemned the use of such language. “Should such language be used? We have to throw out such people. Abusive language has become the norm. The Sahu community here would have been called Modi in Gujarat. Are they all thieves?”, said PM at the rally.
Retaliating on Gandhi’s remarks, PM Modi said, “Recently the Namdar (a reference used by the PM for Gandhi) branded an entire community as thieves. He says everyone having Modi in his name is a thief. They abuse me because I am from a backward community. This is how they view people from backward castes.”
