NEW DELHI: A Surat court on Thursday approved Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s bail on a surety of Rs 15,000 and stayed the sentence of two years imprisonment for 30 days so as to allow him to appeal.
The case filed by former Gujarat minister and BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi pertains to the alleged remarks Gandhi made on April 13, 2019, at a Lok Sabha election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar where he said, “Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi?”
Rahul Gandhi was present at the court when the verdict was announced. The Wayanad MP also got bail after the court pronounced the order after paying a bail bond of ₹10,000.
The order was pronounced by Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Verma. Gandhi was present inside the courtroom on Thursday afternoon along with several national and state Congress leaders. The Surat police had increased security arrangements in the court campus to prevent untoward incidents.
“We are not satisfied with the verdict passed by the court as some of our arguments were not taken into consideration. The issues we raised were, there is no community by the name of Modi and even the complainant is not a Modi as his earlier surname was Bhootwala and later changed to Modi. We will take up our issues to higher courts in coming days,” defence lawyer Kirit Pawala said.
Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer defended that the proceeding was flawed from the beginning as the proper legal procedure under Section 202 of the CrPC was not followed. Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer also argued that Narendra Modi should have been the complainant in the case as Purnesh Modi was not the target of Rahul Gandhi’s speech.
The case against Gandhi was lodged under sections 499 (Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said to defame that person) and 500 (whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both) of the Indian Penal Code.
