New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law after a Gujarat court rejected Rahul Gandhi’s application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
A court in Gujarat’s Surat city rejected Gandhi’s application for a stay on his conviction in the case over his “Modi surname” remark.
Responding to questions on Gandhi’s case at a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said it is a “politically motivated” case, and “We have full faith in the judiciary”.
The court of additional sessions judge R P Mogera rejected Gandhi’s application for a relief pending his appeal against a lower court’s order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case.
Gandhi had on April 3 approached the sessions court for appeal against the lower court’s order.
A stay on conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for Gandhi’s reinstatement as Member of Parliament.
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi has spoken out on Rahul Gandhi’s plea for a stay on his conviction being rejected by the Court. He said that ‘the judgment will be challenged in accordance with law very soon.’
BJP has hailed the verdict and has even termed called it ‘Satyamev Jayate.’ Rahul Gandhi can appeal the decision in a High Court and is likely to do so in the coming few days. As of now, he cannot be reinstated as a Lok Sabha MP.
Gandhi had approached the sessions court for appeal after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.
PTI