New Delhi: A Surat court today convicted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case for his alleged 'Modi surname' remark during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign. He was sentenced to two years in jail by the court.
Later, the court, which held Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500, granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court, the Congress leader's lawyer Babu Mangukiya said.
The case was filed against Gandhi for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remarks on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.
The Lok Sabha MP made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi’s conviction has led to questions over his status as a member of the lower house of the parliament from Wayanad, Kerala.
What does the Representation of People Act say?
The Representation of the People Act, of 1951 specifies the qualifications and the disqualifications of Members of Parliament and state legislatures.
According to section 8(3) of this law, any MP or MLA convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.
The person is disqualified for the period of imprisonment and a further six years.
It says, “A person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years [other than any offence referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2)] shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.]”
How does an appeal against the conviction impact disqualification?
The lawmakers could avoid immediate disqualification using section 8(4) of this act till 2013. This section of the act earlier permitted convicted MPs, MLAs, and MLCs to continue in their posts if they filed an appeal against their conviction/sentence in higher courts within three months of the trial court's decision.
But, in a landmark 2013 ruling in ‘Lily Thomas v Union of India’, the Supreme Court struck down Section 8(4) of the RPA as unconstitutional.
As a result, because section 8(4) no longer exists, there is no protection from disqualification despite filing an appeal.
Rahul Gandhi tore ordinance in 2013
In 2013, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance tried to overturn the Supreme Court judgment and retain section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, but Rahul Gandhi himself had prevented this attempt and called the ordinance complete nonsense.
“I’ll tell you what my opinion on the ordinance is. It’s complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away. That is my personal opinion,” Rahul Gandhi said in a press conference, after which he tore a printed copy of the ordinance of his own government in front of the media.