INDIA: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is facing tough times in his political career, recently faced a major setback amid the Gujarat court sentencing him to jail over his controversial remark about the ‘Modi Surname’. Now, his stay application is also rejected on Thursday by the Surat District and Sessions Court.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer, Kirit Panwala, indicated that the order of the Sessions Court would be appealed in the Gujarat High Court.
In the meantime, the oldest party leader and lawyer, Abhishek Singhvi, said, “The conviction has been upheld, contrary to all basic and elementary principles of law.”
The lawyer furthermore added, “In the very near future, the judgement will be contested in accordance with the law. The High Court will hear a challenge to it. We are sure that the High Court and the Supreme Court, two superior courts with constitutional judicial review authority, will be able to correct the legal mistakes revealed in these two judgements.”
Against the backdrop, Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Modi surname remark’ has led him to face severe repercussions- Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma on March 23 ordered him to two years in prison.
Besides this, the then MP and president of the Indian National Congress party was disqualified from his post, and he will not be eligible to contest in elections for the upcoming 6 years. The judge, while passing the conviction, stated that “Rahul Gandhi should have been more cautious with his statements, which had a big impact on people’s thinking.”
The ASJ, in his order, stated, “The reputation of the community as a whole may not exist; rather, it will only exist for its individual members. Each one or all of the members of the class or group may initiate legal action when the defamatory matter affects them all.”
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