Rahul Gandhi Gets Court Relief in Modi Defamation Case. Danger Not Yet Over

Rahul Gandhi Gets Court Relief in Modi Defamation Case. Danger Not Yet Over

If Rahul Gandhi wants to avoid fabricated legal cases against him, he should immediately announce his candidature for the PM position in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

By Rakesh Raman

The Supreme Court of India has provided a temporary relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Modi defamation case. 

In its decision today (August 4), the top court stayed his conviction with the observation that the trial court should not have sentenced him with two-year imprisonment that led to his disqualification from the parliament.

The stay on Rahul Gandhi’s conviction means his membership to the parliament may be restored, although the court case will continue. It is not a permanent relief for the Congress leader, as the sword of Damocles will keep hanging over his head in this case or some future case in which he may be implicated.

In July, the Gujarat High Court had rejected Rahul Gandhi’s request to put on hold his conviction in the case. Consequently, he approached the Supreme Court which accepted his appeal.

Congress alleged that the case against Rahul Gandhi is part of a political vendetta, as he was accusing prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi of a criminal collusion with oligarch Gautam Adani who is facing a series of financial fraud allegations.

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But if it is a revenge case by Modi, he can again implicate Rahul Gandhi in some other case filed particularly in Gujarat through some rogue petitioner, as it happened in the ongoing Modi defamation case.

In this case, Rahul Gandhi in his remarks had compared PM Modi with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, saying “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”

He made this statement in a 2019 public rally that he addressed in Karnataka. But ignoring territorial jurisdiction, a random petitioner was allowed to file his petition against Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat where Modi was the chief minister.

According to reports, the case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by Modi’s party colleague Purnesh Modi who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat minister. 

In his complaint, the BJP leader alleged that Rahul Gandhi defamed the entire Modi community with his remarks, although the petitioner is not directly affected by Rahul Gandhi’s statement. 

Neither PM Modi nor any of the other Modis that Rahul Gandhi mentioned filed the petition against him. It is increasingly happening that some mercenary petitioners who are not directly involved in cases file petitions against people who need to be harassed and unfortunately courts accept such petitions.

[ Also Read: Petition to Investigate the Assets of Karnataka Congress Leader D. K. Shivakumar ]

Astonishingly, the Gujarat court convicted Rahul Gandhi to the maximum prison sentence in this case – which is two years and which served as a ground to disqualify him from parliament.

Although it was being projected as a court decision to disqualify Rahul Gandhi from parliament, we must understand that in all autocratic regimes that work under the garb of democratic systems, the rulers silently use complicit courts to impose their own decisions on opponents to suppress all kinds of dissent. 

In order to tame such complicit Gujarat courts and pliant judges who are giving controversial judgments against Modi’s political opponents, they should be tried in international courts or judicial forums to get them prosecuted and sanctioned for their misdemeanors and questionable behaviour. 

Meanwhile, if Rahul Gandhi wants to avoid fabricated legal cases against him, he should immediately announce his candidature for the PM position in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Then perhaps Modi will be hesitant to harass the Congress leader who would be his main rival in the Lok Sabha election.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He has also been publishing The Unrest news magazine that covers economic and political upheavals in the world.