Defamation Case: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to move Gujarat HC after Surat court dismisses plea to stay conviction

Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi will be moving Gujarat High Court challenging his conviction after Surat Sessions court on April 20 dismissed his plea seeking stay on his conviction.

Lawyer Kirit Panwala, who represented the Gandhi scion said that the ex-MP will challenging the dismissal of his appeal in Gujarat High Court, stated a Times of India report.

He was quoted saying that the court's verdict is dissppointing but they hope that they will get relief either from the HC or Supreme Court.

Surat court dismisses plea

The court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera rejected Gandhi's application for a relief against a magisterial court order sentencing him to two years in jail in the defamation case.

"Let me assure you that the judgement will be challenged in accordance with law in the very near future," Abhishek Singhvi said.

A report in the news agency PTI said that Singhvi, himself a noted lawyer, is likely to appear before the High Court in Gujarat while challenging the Sessions Court order.

"There is a legal error in the judgement. We respect all courts and we have the High Court and Supreme Court. We have several grounds to challenge the judgement. We will move the high court in the very near future," Singhvi added.

Gandhi approached Sessions court on April 3

Gandhi had on April 3 approached the sessions court for appeal against the lower court's order.

After his conviction by the magistrate court on March 23, Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP and he was asked to vacate his official bungalow.

A stay on the conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for his reinstatement as Member of Parliament.

The lower court had sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.