STAR REPORT

India’s Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi was granted bail yesterday in a 2019 defamation case and his two-year jail sentence was paused until a decision on his appeal challenging his conviction.

The Gujarat court of Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera said it would hear Rahul’s plea for suspension of conviction on April 13 after issuing a notice to complainant Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker in Gujarat and former Gujarat cabinet minister.

The sessions court asked the Purnesh Modi and Gujarat governmnent to file their replies by April 10, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

On March 22, Rahul, the 52-year-old scion of the Gandhi family, was convicted by a magistrate’s court in Surat and sentenced to prison for two years last month for a speech in which he reportedly said “why all thieves have Modi as surname.”

While convicting Rahul, the magistrate court had granted him bail for 30 days to appeal against the verdict. A day later, he was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha.

The application at the sessions court seeking suspension of Rahul’s conviction is important for him to get back his membership of Lok Sabha from where he was disqualified with effect from March 23, a day after his conviction.

As per a Supreme Court order of 2013, the disqualification of membership of a lawmaker is automatic from the date of his conviction and a punishment of two or more years of imprisonment.

Unless the conviction against Congress leader Rahul is suspended, he will remain disqualified in Lok Sabha, two lawyers defending Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case told reporters in Surat.

Rahul’s lawyers said the sessions court exempted Rahul to appear before it on the next date of hearing on April 13.

Earlier in the day, Rahul, the 52-year-old Congress leader, reached Surat via a scheduled commercial flight along with his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and a galaxy of senior party leaders like Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.

The Congress said the presence of the party leaders in Surat is not a “show of strength”, but a “symbol of support” for Gandhi.

“It’s not a show of strength. He is fighting for the country. They are going with him to support him in his fight,” said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The party also alleged that “illegal arrests” were being made to prevent party leaders and workers from going to Surat, reports NDTV.

“There are continuous reports of illegal arrests by the BJP government in Gujarat to prevent Congress leaders and workers from going to Surat,” party leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted in Hindi.

Two more defamation cases have been filed elsewhere against Gandhi for the same comment and he is due to appear in court in one of them in the eastern city of Patna on April 12, reports Reuters.

Gandhi is at the centre of opposition politics and the main target of Modi’s BJP even though Gandhi’s Congress party is a shadow of its former self and the BJP looks set to dominate the next general election.

Opposition politicians say his trial and his disqualification from parliament are the latest example of the government’s strong-arm tactics, following various investigations and legal troubles faced recently by some opposition members.

BJP leaders reject that and say Gandhi’s case represents the Congress party’s arrogance and its readiness to hurt sections of society to settle political scores with the prime minister.

Gandhi’s Wayanad seat in Kerala is now vacant following his removal from the office.