Surat: Surat court on March 23rd convicted Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail. Following the conviction, Rahul is disqualified as a Member of Parliament. One of contributing factors to his disqualification is 2 years sentence, that the court has ordered. This is the highest possible punishment provisioned under defamation law. Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat HH Varma has in the verdict specifically mentioned why Rahul has been given the highest possible punishment provisioned under the relevant law.

The Surat court has in its judgment pointed out that ‘subsequent to his controversial remarks (and written apology in 2018), the Supreme Court had asked Rahul Gandhi to stay alert in the future, but it seems his conduct has remained unchanged.’

The court also stated in its judgment that ‘the accused is a Member of Parliament and his address to people as MP is a very serious matter because when some person addresses the people as an MP, its impact over the public is very wide and so if such accused gets lesser punishment, then the wrong message would go among people. The very purpose of defamation (law) will not materialize and any person will easily defame any other person.’

DeshGujarat