Rahul Gandhi defamation case timeline: From Congress leader’s ‘Modi remark’, to Supreme Court’s decision

April 13, 2019: Rahul allegedly said “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” during a rally in Kolar, Karnataka in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

March 23, 2023: A Surat court convicted the Congress leader for his remark and sentenced him to two years in prison. The court approved Gandhi’s bail on a surety of Rs 15,000 and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal.

March 24, 2023: A day after his conviction, Rahul was disqualified from the Lok Sabha. A notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat said he stood disqualified from the House from March 23, the day of his conviction.

April 3, 2023: Gandhi approached the Surat Sessions Court challenging his conviction and further seeking a stay on the Surat court’s ruling.

April 20, 2023:  A local court in Surat dismissed the Congress leader’s application to stay the conviction, and upheld the magistrate’s order in his conviction.

April 25, 2023:  Rahul filed a revision application challenging a Surat court’s refusal to stay his conviction in a criminal defamation case before the Gujarat High Court.

July 7, 2023: The Gujarat High Court dismisses Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction.

July 15, 2023:  A week after the Gujarat High Court declined to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case, Rahul filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the HC’s decision.

July 21, 2023: The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Gujarat government on a plea by the Congress leader challenging the Gujarat High Court order that refused to stay his conviction in a criminal defamation case.

August 3, 2023:  Maintaining that he is not guilty of the offence of defamation, Rahul made it clear to the apex court that he had no intention of apologising. In his reply filed before the Supreme Court, Rahul said he “maintains and has always maintained that he is not guilty of offence and that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier”.

August 4, 2023:  The Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the defamation case.