New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that he always maintained he is not guilty of offence in the ‘Modi surname’ remark defamation case. He said that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier.
Gandhi requested the top court to stay his two-year conviction, enabling him to participate in the ongoing sittings of the Lok Sabha and the sessions thereafter.
In an affidavit, Gandhi accused complainant Purnesh Modi of using slanderous terms such as 'arrogant' to describe the former Congress chief only because he has refused to apologise.
“Using the criminal process and the consequences under Representation of Peoples Act to arm-twist Rahul Gandhi into apologising for no fault, is gross abuse of the judicial process and ought not to be countenanced by this court”, ANI quoted the Congress leader's affidavit.
The affidavit further stated that Gandhi has an ‘exceptional' case considering the offence being a trivial offence, and the irreparable harm that accrues to him as an elected MP.
Earlier, on Monday, BJP leader and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi, the complainant in the defamation case, told the top court that the Congress leader has shown arrogance rather than being apologetic over his "All Thieves have Modi surname" remark, reported Bar and Bench.
Gandhi maligned a totally blameless class of persons by his reckless and malicious words, the complainant had told the top court while arguing against a plea by Gandhi seeking a stay on his conviction in the defamation case.
The top court is scheduled to hear on August 4, Gandhi’s appeal challenging the Gujarat High Court’s July 7 verdict that declined to put on hold his conviction.
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha in March after he was sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat metropolitan magistrate's court in the 2019 case over his "why all thieves have Modi surname" remark. Later, the Surat sessions court declined to stay the conviction in the matter.
The former Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad had said "how come all thieves have the common surname Modi?" while addressing a rally in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, targetting PM Modi over his last name which he shares with fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA is automatically disqualified if convicted and sentenced to two years or more.