Court rules Rahul Gandhi guilty over 'Modi' surname use, gets two-year jail

Surat: Rahul Gandhi was today convicted by a court in Gujarat's Surat District in the 2019 defamation case for his ‘Modi surname’ remark. He has secured bail in the case which will enable him to move an appeal against his conviction within 30 days.

The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma sentenced him to two years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs. 15,000 after finding him guilty under Sections 499 (Defamation), 500 (punishment for Defamation) IPC.

According to Section 500 (dealing with defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, an individual who defames another can be punished with simple imprisonment for a term extending to two years or with fine, or with both.

Gandhi was present before the court when the verdict was pronounced like on earlier three occasions.

His comments came during a political campaign in Karnataka's Kolar district ahead of the 2019 national election and followed an earlier reference to fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

"Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as common surname? How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" the Congress MP had asked.

Following Gandhi’s comments, BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks stating that it has defamed all people with the ‘Modi’ surname.

Gandhi shrugged it off as a 'desperate' move by his political rivals to 'silence' him.

The remarks were video graphed by the video surveillance team and video viewing team of the office of Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, Kollar District.

Chief Judicial Magistrate H.H. Varma last week had concluded hearing the final arguments from both sides and set March 23 to pronounce its judgment.

Gandhi has maintained that there was no malafide intention on his part when he made the statement in question.