Rahul Gandhi gets 2 years in jail for 2019 Modi remark; his future as MP at stake
Congress’s Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi faces possible disqualification from Lok Sabha and a six-year bar on contesting elections after a district court in Gujarat’s Surat on Thursday sentenced him to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed by a BJP MLA over his remark at a poll rally in Karnataka’s Kolar: “How come all thieves have the Modi surname?”
Chief judicial magistrate HH Varma, who held Rahul guilty of criminal defamation under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, granted him bail against a bond of Rs 15,000 and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal the verdict in a higher court. Sources in Delhi said that at a late-evening huddle, legal experts advised Rahul to appeal against the setback in the sessions court at Surat.
The leeway, however, may not be enough to save him from the provision of disqualification in the Representation of the People Act, which, many experts said, kicks in as soon as a member of Parliament or a state legislature is convicted of an offence punishable with a sentence of two years or more. This puts Rahul at risk of eviction from the electoral arena if the higher courts don’t overturn CJM Varma’s order.
The court said the duration of the jail term, the minimum required for disqualification as an elected representative to kick in, was to stress the gravity of the defamation offence. “If the accused is given less punishment, it sends a wrong message to the public and the purpose of defamation is not served and anybody will easily slander someone,” it said, while highlighting that Rahul had been cautioned by the Supreme Court for misrepresenting the court’s remarks as an endorsement of his “chowkidar chor hai” during the 2019 campaign.
Petitioner Purnesh Modi, who is the MLA of Surat West, had said in his 2019 complaint that Rahul insulted crores of people with his remark.
Rahul’s lawyer Kirit Panwala pleaded for a milder sentence on the ground that his client didn’t intend to insult anyone. “The complainant has not suffered any kind of pain or loss, and the accused has never been found guilty of any crime before and has not sought any mercy or forgiveness from anyone,” he told the court.
While convicting Rahul, the court observed that he could have limited his speech to PM Narendra Modi, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Anil Ambani, but he “intentionally” made a statement that hurt individuals sharing the surname Modi. This amounts to criminal defamation, the court said.
In its order, the court said the accused being an MP, any speech made by him would have an impact on the public, making his act of slander more serious than it would otherwise have been. The court observed that the former Congress president knew he would gain from his controversial remark
The court rejected Rahul’s defence that the electronic evidence produced by the complainant in the form of a pen drive and CDs could have been tampered with. It referred to the Supreme Court’s directives to Rahul in the past, advising him to be “alert” after making him apologise for his “chowkidar chor hai” dig. “Despite the Supreme Court alerting the accused, there appears to be no change in his conduct,” the court said.
After his conviction, Rahul told the court that he had delivered the speech at Kolar in line with his duty and in public interest. The CJM rejected his argument.
The court premises had been fortified before the hearing with a large security deployment in anticipation of protests by Congress workers. Rahul arrived around 10.50am. Immediately after the judgment, he left for lunch at a Gujarati thali restaurant before catching a flight to Delhi.
Reacting to the verdict, Purnesh Modi said, “The comment defamed Modi and Teli Samaj who are in crores across the country. Hence, I had filed the complaint. I welcome the judgement.”
Gujarat Congress’s Amit Chavda said, “We are Congressmen, we did not bow down before and will not bow down now. Truth can be harassed, not defeated. Truth always chooses struggle.”
