New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership has been restored. The order was issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat after the Supreme Court stayed Rahul’s sentence in the case of defaming the Modi community. On August 4, the Supreme Court had stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case. Rahul’s Lok Sabha membership was revoked in March this year after the Surat Chief Magistrate Court sentenced him to two years in a defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remarks.
The order:
The Supreme Court observed that the trial judge in a Surat court had failed to provide adequate justification for imposing the highest two-year sentence. Rahul Gandhi had been serving as a Member of Parliament from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala since 2019. However, he was disqualified in March of this year following his conviction.
About the Defamation Case:
In 2019, Purnesh Modi, a former minister from Gujarat, lodged a criminal defamation lawsuit against Rahul Gandhi for his statement “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” made during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, on April 13, 2019. Subsequently, on March 23 of this year, a Surat court found Rahul Gandhi guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison in connection with the case. Following this verdict, he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha.
Following this, the Congress leader challenged that order in a Sessions Court, while also seeking a suspension of his conviction. On April 20, he was granted bail by the Sessions Court; however, the court declined to stay the conviction. In a subsequent move, Rahul Gandhi filed a petition with the Supreme Court on July 15, challenging the decision of the Gujarat High Court that had upheld the Sessions Court’s refusal to suspend his conviction.
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