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.
One of her daughters,the woman said, was sexually exploited by the accused seer till she attained puberty. She had admitted her daughters to SJM Kannada medium school in 2016 in third and first standards. They stayed at the mutt's residential facility.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday failed to reach a consensus over the contentious Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue at a crucial meeting on the issue held here.
An Indian national, who flew from Dubai to Mumbai by an Emirates flight EK-500, was found with 9.9 kgs gold worth Rs 5.20 crore, hidden in a specially designed chest belt with nine pockets and wrapped around his chest and shoulder.
Appreciating Justice Dhulia's position that wearing a hijab is a matter of choice, JIH Secretary Rahamathunnissa, in a statement, said: "We concurred with Justice Dhulia's remarks that the 'Karnataka High Court took the wrong path' and that Article 15 is "a matter of choice, nothing more and nothing else'."
A detailed study of the 10-page Ladhar report dated April 16, 2012, and other documents clearly show that Badal government allowed the former Patiala DC Vikas Garg (now Secretary, Transport) to escape trial by denying prosecution sanction to the court to put him on trial and also directing the Vigilance Bureau to cancel the FIR against him.
The couple which committed the heinous act have been identified as Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila, who used to run a massage centre near Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district at their house Shafi brought the two women to the couple's home in June and September, and they were brutally murdered by the couple.
