A court in Surat in Gujarat held Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him for his alleged “Modi surname” remarks, news agency PTI reported.
The case was filed against Gandhi on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for his remarks, “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”, at a Lok Sabha election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar on 13 April 2019.
The Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad made the alleged remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Last week, Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Verma heard the final arguments in the defamation case. “Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names,” the Congress leader had allegedly said during the rally.
The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma sentenced him to two years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs. 15,000 after finding him guilty under Sections 499 (Defamation), 500 (punishment for Defamation) IPC. He has also secured bail in the case.
On Rahul Gandhi’s plea, his sentence has been suspended, and bail has been granted to enable him to move an appeal against his conviction within 30 days.
