Gujarat HC to hear Rahul Gandhi’s appeal in defamation case on April 29

A Surat court of Additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera had, on April 20, rejected Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on the conviction. “If such power is exercised in a casual and mechanical manner, the same would have a serious impact on the public perception on the justice delivery systems and such order will shake public confidence in judiciary,” the court had said.

Gandhi, in his plea before the HC, is seeking a stay on his conviction on the grounds of disproportionate punishment and that such conviction has caused him irreversible harm by way of losing his Lok Sabha membership.

On March 23, a Surat magistrate court had sentenced Gandhi to two years of simple imprisonment in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Surat West MLA Purnesh Modi over Gandhi’s “why do all thieves have the name Modi” remark made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka in 2019.-With PTI inputs