 "Modi surname case: SC to hear Rahul Gandhi's plea against verdict today")
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday Rahul Gandhi's plea against the verdict of the Gujarat High Court in a defamation case related to his "Modi surname" remark.
The Modi surname case cost Gandhi his Lok Sabha membership.
In the last hearing, on July 21, the apex court sought responses from former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi and the state government on Gandhi's plea.
The SC had then posted the matter for further hearing on August 4.
In his appeal filed on July 15, Gandhi said that if the July 7 judgment is not stayed, it will lead to the throttling of free speech, expression, thought, and statement. On July 7, the Gujarat High Court upheld its conviction of Gandhi in the case.
The Congress leader was disqualified as a Member of Parliament on March 24 after a Gujarat court convicted him and sentenced him to two-year imprisonment on charges of criminal defamation for comments he made about the Modi surname.
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A stay on Gandhi's conviction in July could have paved the way for his reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP, but he failed to get any relief from either the sessions court or the Gujarat High Court.
What is the Modi surname case?
Purnesh Modi, former Gujarat minister, had filed a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Gandhi over a remark made by him during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.
In the rally, Gandhi said, "Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as a common surname? How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?"
The cases were filed under sections 499, 500 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 500 prescribes for defamation a simple imprisonment for a "term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."
In March, Gandhi was convicted and handed a two-year jail term by a district court in Gujarat.
He was also disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
Modi surname defamation case: 'Refuse to apologise'
In an affidavit filed in the SC last week, Gandhi refused to apologise for his Modi surname remarks but urged the court to stay his conviction. He asserted he was not guilty.
Gandhi also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, in his reply, used "slanderous" terms such as "arrogant" for him only because he has refused to apologise.
"Using the criminal process and the consequences under the Representation of People Act to arm-twist the petitioner into apologising for no fault is a gross abuse of the judicial process and ought not to be countenanced by this court," he said.
"The petitioner maintains and has always maintained that he is not guilty of an offence and that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier," Gandhi said in the affidavit.
Rahul Gandhi, who was disqualified as MP from Kerala's Wayanad, submitted he has an "exceptional" case considering the offence was "trivial" and the irreparable harm that accrues to him having been disqualified as a lawmaker.
"On the other hand, there is no prejudice caused at all to the complainant. It is therefore prayed for that the conviction of Rahul Gandhi be stayed, enabling him to participate in the ongoing sittings of the Lok Sabha and the sessions thereafter," he said in the affidavit.
He also claimed there is no community or "samaj" on record going by the name "Modi," and hence, the offence of defaming the Modi community as a whole does not arise.
(With agency inputs)