Indian opposition leader convicted in ‘Modi surname’ defamation case, granted bail

A court in Surat in the Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday afternoon convicted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case and sentenced him to 2 years in jail. The court approved the accused’s bail on a surety of 15,000 INR and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal.

Gandhi was present in the courtroom along with a number of national and state Congress leaders when CJM H H Verma held him guilty. The case lodged by BJP MLA from Surat West and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi relates to an alleged remark the accused made in 2019 during an election rally in Kolar in Karnataka, where he said:

“Why all the thieves have Modi in their names, whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi?”

In order to prevent untoward incidents, the police in Surat had boosted security arrangements on the court campus.

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Defence lawyer Kirit Panwala expressed dissatisfaction over the verdict passed by the court, adding “some of our arguments were not taken into consideration.” Panwala reiterated the issues they had raised, including the complainant is not a Modi as he had changed his earlier surname of Bhootwala to Modi, highlighting the possibility of taking up their issues to higher courts in the coming days.

MLA Purnesh Modi and prosecution lawyer Ketan Reshamwala said they were satisfied with the ruling. “I belong to Modhwanik Ghanchi community which bears the Modi surname,” the plaintiff was cited by The Indian Express as saying. The defamatory statements had hurt our sentiments, he further mentioned. A number of the MLA’s supporters were heard chanting slogans in his support outside the courtroom.