On Thursday, a Surat court found Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi guilty in a 2019 defamation case for his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign. The court has also imposed a 2-year prison sentence as punishment.
The Wayanad MP arrived in Surat this morning after the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma finished hearing final arguments from both sides last week and set March 23 as the date for the verdict in the four-year-old defamation case.
According to reports, the case was filed against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remarks on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.
The alleged remarks were made by the Wayanad MP while speaking at a rally in Kolar, Karnataka, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP MLA claimed in his complaint that Gandhi, while speaking at a poll rally in 2019, defamed the entire Modi community by allegedly saying, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Modi served as a minister during the first term of Bhupendra Patel’s government.
A case was registered against the Congress leader under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation).