Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, was granted bail by the Surat court on Monday, and his sentence was suspended until the outcome of his appeal to vacate his conviction in a defamation case stemming from a remark he made in 2019 regarding the surname Modi.Gandhi was granted bail by the Surat District and Sessions Court in exchange for a 15,000 rupee guarantee. On April 13, the court will hear Rahul’s request for a suspension of his sentence.
Gandhi filed a criminal appeal contesting his March 23 conviction for criminal defamation in connection with the charge brought by Surat West Legislator Purnesh Modi. Gandhi was sentenced to two years of simple jail.
He submitted two applications in addition to the appeal through his attorneys Tarannum Cheema and Kirit Panwala. The first demanded that he be “released on bail” until the resolution of the criminal appeal and that the two-year sentence be suspended. In the second application, it was requested that the conviction handed down by the magistrate court be “stayed in the interest of justice while the appeal is pending.”At the court of Additional District Judge R P Mogera, the applications were submitted.
According to B M Mangukiya, a lawyer for the Congress, the Surat Sessions Court accepted the primary appeal, with no set date for its next listing and with the appeal to be handled “in the ordinary course.”
Mangukiya further stated that the Gujarat state government and Modi, the respondents, received notice from the court regarding the plea for the suspension of the conviction. Gandhi would apply like a “normal bail,” Mangukiya said, adding that the notices had been set to be due on April 13 and that the respondents had been ordered to submit their responses in response to Rahul’s arguments for a stay of execution by April 10.