'Modi surname' defamation case: Surat verdict may cost Rahul Gandhi his Lok Sabha seat

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi may lose his membership of the Lok Sabha because of the Surat verdict sentencing him to two years of jail in a defamation case for his April 2019 remark: "why all thieves share the Modi surname" during a political campaign at Karol in Gujarat.

Earlier, the convicted leaders used to obtain a stay from the higher courts, but not after a 2013 judgment of the Supreme Court, given in the case filed by Lilly Thomas ruled that any MP, MLA or MLC, convicted of a crime and awarded two-year imprisonment, would be disqualified "with immediate effect," without being given three months’ time for appeal, as was the case before.

Kharge seeks legal advice

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge immediately called the party's legal luminaries to seek their opinion on whether to move the Supreme Court or the Gujarat High Court.

Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma sentenced him to two years of jail and also imposed a fine of ₹ 15,000 on finding him guilty under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) IPC. Rahul was, however, granted bail, suspending his sentence, to enable him to move an appeal against his conviction within 30 days.

The court convicted him on a complaint filed by Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and a former Gujarat Minister, accusing Rahul of defaming all people with the "Modi" surname.

The Gujarat High Court vacated the stay on trial in the criminal defamation case in February this year. Rahul was present in the Court when the verdict was pronounced.

Rahul's Lok Sabha seat in peril

In an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court on the immediate disqualification after conviction, the Manmohan Singh Government had brought the Representation of the People (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 in the Rajya Sabha by then law minister Kapil Sibal, but the bill was withdrawn on October 2, 2013, after Rahul called it "complete nonsense that should be torn up and thrown away" when told that it was brought to protect Lalu Yadav from the fodder scam verdict.

He would have never thought that the law as established by the top court would cost him his membership in the Lok Sabha.