Blow to Rahul Gandhi as Gujarat HC refuses to stay his conviction in Modi surname case

In yet another setback for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Gujarat high court Friday dismissed his petition seeking a stay on his conviction in the criminal defamation case for calling people with Modi surnames "thieves" during an election campaign. The Congress leader was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP after his conviction by a Surat court in March.

Dismissing Gandhi's petition, single-bench judge Hemant Prachchhak read out parts of the order, stating, "The applicant is trying to seek a stay on conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. It is a well-settled principle of law that a stay on conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases. Disqualification is not only limited to MPs and MLAs. Moreover, as many as 10 criminal cases are pending against the applicant." The court held that the conviction was "just and legal." Justice Prachchhak also mentioned a defamation case against Gandhi filed by the grandson of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in Pune court.

With this order, Gandhi will remain dismissed as Wayanad MP unless he gets a respite from the Supreme Court. On March 23, a magisterial court in Surat held Rahul Gandhi guilty of criminal defamation and sentenced him to two years imprisonment under Section 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

This is the maximum punishment in a criminal defamation case. Following the conviction, Gandhi was disqualified as a member of parliament representing the Wayanad constituency in Kerala. His status as an MP can be revoked if the apex court stays the conviction order.

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On May 2, the high court had reserved the order while refusing to grant him any interim relief. Justice Prachchhak had noted, "After considering a plethora of documents, it is in the interest and fitness of the case that the matter be decided final and no interim protection can be granted...only after through the records of the proceedings the order can be passed."

The Gujarat government had also opposed the move, saying that Gandhi was convicted in a "serious offence." Gandhi's advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi objected to the state government's locus standi and listed cases where convictions were stayed by courts against legislators who were convicted of serious offences.

Surat BJP leader Purnesh Modi had filed a defamation case after Gandhi's public speech in Karnataka in 2019 where he is reported to have said, "Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as common surname? How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?"

In the court, Gandhi defended himself by saying "...only Narendra Modi can be considered as the person aggrieved of the offence of defamation and only Narendra Modi can file a complaint for the same and Purnesh Modi the respondent/complainant has no right to file the complaint on his behalf and so the complaint for the alleged defamatory imputations against Narendra Modi by the complaint is not sustainable."

The Congress leader said that barring "why all the thieves have the surname Modi" all the alleged defamatory comments are against Narendra Modi personally." Gandhi's petition also stated that complainant Purnesh Modi was previously known as "Purnesh Bhootwala" and adopted the "Modi" surname only in 1988.