The Supreme Court will hear senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging the Gujarat High Court order on July 21, which had declined to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case over a Modi surname remark.
Modi Surname Case
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud assigned the date of hearing after senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Rahul Gandhi in the apex court, sought an early hearing.
The appeal was filed on July 15 after the Gujarat High Court dealt a blow to the Congress leader’s endeavour to revive his Lok Sabha membership.
The High Court observed that Gandhi “breached modesty” and that his offence involved “moral turpitude”. In his appeal filed in the apex court, the Congress leader said that if the judgment is not stayed, it would lead to the throttling of free speech, expression, thought, and statement.
He contended that if the High Court verdict is not stayed, it would contribute to the systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions. The case dates back to 2019, when Purnesh Modi, a former minister in the Government of Gujarat, filed a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi over his “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remark made during an election rally in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.
