Surat: Hearing in the case challenging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a defamation case will next be held on April 13 in Surat Sessions Court.  Rahul Gandhi had today filed an appeal in the Surat sessions court against his conviction in the defamation case.

According to a lawyer and Congress leader Babu Mangukiya, the hearing today was a short one and it continued for only five to seven minutes. The court has granted bail against a sentence of two years for Rs. 15,000 bond to Rahul which is just a matter of formality as this is a bailable case.

Mangukiya said the court said that it needs to hear the other party before taking a decision on a stay on conviction.

Rahul’s lawyer asked for the shortest possible time for the next hearing on the plea for the stay on conviction.

The court asked the other party to file their reply till 10th April and decided that further hearing on this will take place on April 13.

Mangukiya said that Rahul will not need to remain present physically on April 13 during the hearing.

Mangukiya said Rahul Gandhi’s role today was just about signing the bond which he signed and left.

Rahul Gandhi is disqualified as Lok Sabha member following his conviction and two years sentence. He requires to get his conviction stayed/suspended to restore his membership of Lok Sabha.

In a 168-page verdict, the lower court had earlier declared 2-year punishment for Rahul Gandhi in the case of defamation filed against him by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi. However, the court had suspended the sentence for 30 days so that Rahul can challenge the verdict in a higher court. The translation of the Gujarati language verdict was completed by 30th March.

While giving the highest sentence to Rahul Gandhi under relevant sections lower court had pointed out that subsequent to his controversial remarks (and written apology in 2018), Supreme Court had asked Rahul Gandhi to stay alert in the future, but it seems his conduct has remained unchanged.

The court also had stated in its judgment that the accused is MP and his address to people as MP is very serious because when some person addresses people as being MP, it impacts the people very widely and so if the accused gets lesser punishment, then a wrong message will go among people. The very purpose of defamation(law) will not materialize and any person will easily defame any other person. DeshGujarat