Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday moved the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court’s order refusing to stay his conviction and two-year jail sentence in a defamation case.
Rahul Gandhi was convicted in March and sentenced to two years in prison in a case related to his speech before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This immediately disqualified him from being a Lok Sabha MP.
Complainant BJP MLA Purnesh Modi has alleged that Rahul Gandhi has insulted 13 crore people living in India by using the surname Modi.
On July 7, Justice Hemant Prachak of the Gujarat High Court said in his order that stay of conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases.
In the appeal filed on Saturday, Rahul said that if the judgment is not stayed, freedom of speech will be affected.
It is part of the ”systematic corruption of democratic institutions. Democracy is being strangled. This is extremely detrimental to India’s political climate and future,” he argued.
“Criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been severely punished. Through this, a conspiracy has been made to keep me out of Parliament and not to ask questions,” Rahul said.
“Punishing a statement made in the middle of a political campaign is deeply damaging to democratic freedom of speech. This is an attempt to suppress political dialogue or discussion.
Rahul Gandhi was elected by a record margin of 4,31,770 votes and told the Supreme Court that staying his impeachment could pave the way for his reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP.
“A satirical statement made in a political context cannot be characterized as morally depraved,” Gandhi said.
