Matter will be taken up further: Congress on Gujarat HC's refusal to stay Rahul's conviction in defamation case

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, July 7

The judgment redoubles the Congress' resolve to pursue the matter further, the party on Friday said after the Gujarat High Court refused to stay Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a defamation case. 

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the reasoning of the judge is being studied and the matter will be taken up further.

“We have noted the verdict of the single-judge bench of the Gujarat High Court on the disqualification of @RahulGandhi. The reasoning of the Hon'ble judge is being studied, as it should be, and Dr. Abhishek Singhvi will be briefing the media in detail at 3pm. The judgement only redoubles our resolve to pursue the matter further”, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.

The Gujarat High Court refused to stay the conviction of the Congress leader in criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark on Friday. The court of Justice Hemant Prachchhak delivered the verdict. 

“Even after the present case, some more cases filed against him. One such is filed by the grandson of Veer Savarkar. In any way, the conviction would not result in any injustice," said the High Court, requesting the sessions court to decide Gandhi's appeal on merit as early as possible.

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Parliament with effect from March 23 after the CJM’s court in Surat convicted him and sentenced him to two years in prison for his comment regarding people with Modi surname.

The District and Sessions Court in Surat, where Rahul Gandhi had first challenged the trial court’s order, had granted him bail and suspended his sentence till the disposal of his appeal.

If the High Court had stayed his conviction, it would have helped Gandhi get back his membership of the Lok Sabha. Section 151A of the Representation of People Act mandates the Election Commission to fill the casual vacancies in Parliament and state legislatures through byelections within six months (180 days) from the date of occurrence of the vacancy.

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