Rahul Gandhi receives a two-year sentence after an Indian court finds him guilty of slander.

 For a speech he gave in 2019 in which he said that robbers go by the surname Modi, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted guilty of defamation on Thursday and given a two-year prison sentence.


Gandhi attended the court hearing in Surat, which is located in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bail was granted, and the punishment was suspended for a month.




Following a speech during the 2019 general election in which he mentioned the surname Modi and questioned how all thieves got the surname, a politician of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed the criminal defamation lawsuit against Gandhi.


"The court ruled that Rahul Gandhi's remark was defamatory. In accordance with IPC section 499 read with 500, the court judged him guilty. He was given a two-year prison term, according to Ketan Reshamwala, the complainant Purnesh Modi's attorney.



Gandhi said in court that he had made the remark to draw attention to corruption rather than to disparage any particular group of people.


When Modi runs for re-election as prime minister in 2024, Gandhi is one of the primary opposition figures in the nation who will challenge him.


Gandhi's formerly powerful Congress now holds less than 10% of the seats in the lower house of parliament and has suffered crushing defeats to the BJP in two straight general elections, most recently in 2019.

By a significant proportion, Modi continues to be the most popular leader in India, and he is widely anticipated to win a third term in office in 2024.

In a 2019 defamation case over his comments regarding the "Modi surname," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was found guilty and given a two-year prison sentence by a court in Surat, Gujarat.


Gandhi allegedly remarked, "How come all the robbers share the surname Modi?"

According to Gandhi's attorney, Babu Mangukiya, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, which found Gandhi guilty under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Criminal Code, also gave him bail and stayed the punishment for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

Gandhi's conviction has raised concerns about his eligibility to serve as a Member of Parliament from Kerala's Wayanad. The Indian Express was instructed by sources in the Lok Sabha Speaker's office, "Let the order come to the Speaker's office along with a complaint to disqualify him. If a complaint accompanied by an order is brought to the table, legal experts will review it and make a determination.

Can Rahul Gandhi still serve as an MP despite his conviction?

An MP's disqualification from office can occur in one of two situations.


First, check to see if the crime for which he was found guilty is one that is mentioned in Section 8(1) of the 1951 Representation of the People Act.

Why the Gujarat court found Rahul Gandhi guilty is explained. What is the defamation claim against him from 2019?

Second, if the lawmaker is found guilty of another crime but receives a sentence of two years or more. An MP may be disqualified under Section 8(3) of the RPA if found guilty and given a term of at least two years in prison.


How would the disqualification be affected by an appeal against the conviction?

In accordance with Section 8(4), the disqualification does not take effect until "three months have passed" since the date of the conviction. Gandhi has a certain amount of time to appeal the verdict to the High Court.

However, despite the fact that the statute initially allowed for a reprieve on disqualification if an appeal against the conviction was filed before a higher court, the Supreme Court threw down Section 8(4) of the RPA as unconstitutional in the historic 2013 decision in "Lily Thomas v. Union of India."

This means that the MP who was convicted must get a particular order of stay against the trial court's conviction in addition to filing an appeal, which will not be sufficient. It is important to note that the stay must also be a stay of conviction and cannot only be a suspension of sentence under Section 389 CrPC.


A convict's sentence may be suspended by an appellate court while the appeal is proceeding under Section 389 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This is comparable to posting bail for the appellant.

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