Why Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to 2 years in jail

The Surat District Court on Thursday found Rahul Gandhi guilty in the 2019 criminal defamation case over his alleged 'Modi surname' remarks.

Rahul was sentenced to two years in jail but was later granted bail with the sentence being suspended for 30 days to allow the Congress leader to appeal the verdict in a higher court.

What did Rahul Gandhi say?

In 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul had allegedly said in Karnataka's Kolar "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" while referring to Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.

Surat BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had lodged a complaint against the Congress leader claiming that Gandhi's remarks "defamed" the entire Modi community.

The case was filed under IPC sections 499, 500 (for criminal defamation), and 504 on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.

A timeline of the case

Rahul appeared before the Surat court in October 2021 to record his statement in the defamation case.

The final arguments in the case resumed last month after the Gujarat High Court vacated a stay on the proceedings which was imposed on a plea by the complainant demanding Rahul's presence in person.

Modi's lawyer argued the CDs and pen drives with materials on Rahul's Kolar speech established that the Congress leader had indeed made the remark on the Modi surname and subsequently defamed the entire community.

The Congress MP's lawyer, in turn, argued that the court proceedings were "flawed" since the procedure under section 202 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) were not followed. This section deals with the postponement of the issue of the process.

Rahul's lawyer argued that PM Narendra Modi and not Purnesh Modi should have been the complainant since the PM was the main target of Rahul's speech.