Guj court rejects Rahul's plea for suspension of conviction in defamation case
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Apr, 2023 11:09 AM
Surat, April 20 (IANS) The sessions court in Surat on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking suspension of his conviction in the defamation case that led to his disqualification from Parliament.
The court had convicted Gandhi on March 23 for his remarks made during an election rally in Kolar in April 2019, where he had said that "all people with the Modi surname are thieves".
The court sentenced him to two years in prison and he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha the next day.
Rahul Gandhi's lawyers had filed two applications, one for bail till the disposal of his appeal and another for suspension of his conviction until the appeal is decided.
Senior advocate R.S. Cheema, appearing for the Congress leader, argued that only an aggrieved person could file a defamation complaint as per the law, while also pointing out that the speech was not defamatory until it was taken out of context.
The case was filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, who had claimed that Rahul Gandhi's statement had defamed all the people with the Modi surname.
The court had found Rahul Gandhi guilty under IPC Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation).
He had claimed that the trial court treated him harshly because of his status as an MP.
Cheema also questioned the Surat court's jurisdiction, pointing out that the speech was made in Kolar.
The court rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea, which means that he cannot be reinstated as an MP.
It also imposed the maximum punishment permissible under the law, and Rahul Gandhi's punishment could not have been even a day less to allow him to retain his seat as an MP.
This was the eighth abstention at the UN by India on a matter involving the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thursday's abstention by India was a defiance of Russia, which threatened those abstaining.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the flying squad, Udyog Vihar police station and Cyber Crime police led by DSP Inderjeet Singh Yadav of CM flying wing and Rajeev Kumar, ACP (Udyog Vihar) raided the call centre and recovered Rs 22.50 lakh in cash, six laptops, three desktops, 18 mobile phones and a 64 GB pen drive.
Reiterating his commitment to ensure seamless supply of construction material to the people at the affordable rates, the Chief Minister said the current mining policy is being reviewed meticulously so as to formulate a new comprehensive pro-people mining policy.
On April 3, two persons from Pathankot, driver, Surinder Singh and conductor, Dheeraj Dutta were shot and injured by militants in Litter village of the same district.
Three persons were arrested for allegedly running a fake call centre that used to cheat people on the pretext of increasing the limit of their credit cards, an official said on Wednesday. The accused cyber fraudsters were identified as Prateek (25), Kuldeep (26) and Sourav (27)
In a massive show of strength, the party's two Chief Ministers -- Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Bhagwant Mann of Punjab -- held a roadshow with the former pleading with the public saying, "AAP will uproot corruption from Himachal Pradesh too, if it comes to power".
