New Delhi: A Surat court’s two-year jail sentence to Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 criminal defamation case puts the Congress MP at the risk of disqualification from the Lok Sabha unless he manages to get the conviction stayed in a higher court.
The Congress is planning to appeal against the lower court order. The court on Thursday morning, while pronouncing Gandhi guilty for his remarks made in Karnataka's Kolar -- "How come all thieves have surname Modi" -- granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to let him appeal.
The developments, meanwhile, led to a massive faceoff between the BJP and the Congress, with both sides blaming each other. Moments after Rahul, quoting Mahatma Gandhi, tweeted, "My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, and non-violence the means to attain Him,", the BJP asked whether Gandhi's religion means he will go around defaming people, defaming the country, its democracy and its martyrs.
The BJP fielded former minister and veteran Ravi Shankar Prasad who asked, "Rahul Gandhi says he believes in truth and non-violence. Does that mean he can defame people, hurl casteist slurs at them. If Rahul has the right to abuse people, those hurt by his abuses have a right to move court. The law of the land is if an individual has been defamed by scurrilous, scandalous and defamatory comments, he has the right to redress and the sentence today came after prolonged hearings over four years."
Prasad cited the past remarks by Gandhi saying he is a serial offender. The statements by Gandhi which Prasad mentioned included those made in London about India's democratic decline; remarks about the Supreme Court in the Rafale matter for which he had apologised to the court; accusations of Pegasus software on his phone; his claims in 2022 that kerosene had been poured all over the country and only a flame was needed to start the fire, among others.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge earlier alleged that "judges were being changed". "We were expecting this order (of the Surat court) by the number of times Rahul Gandhi was asked to come," Kharge said, inviting sharp rebuttals from the BJP, which termed the Congress chief's statements as "contempt of court".
Asked if the Lok Sabha Speaker could disqualify Gandhi, Prasad said, "That is for the Speaker to decide. Section 8 of the Representation of People's Act provides for disqualification of convicted MPs and MLAs."
Section 8 (3) of the RPA clearly says that a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years 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."
The Section talks of relief only in one situation -- "A disqualification under either subsection shall not, in the case of a person who on the date of the conviction is a member of Parliament or the legislator of a state, take effect until three months have elapsed from that date or, if within that period an appeal or application for revision is brought in respect of the conviction or the sentence, until that appeal or application is disposed of by the court."
While Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla can move to disqualify Gandhi immediately, and declare the Wayanad seat vacant, Gandhi's legal strategy would be to challenge his conviction in the higher court and protect his Lok Sabha membership, either by way of a stay or quashing of the lower court order.
But until then, sources said the Speaker can initiate disqualification proceedings against Gandhi irrespective of the outcome of the appeal.
Later, depending on the order of the higher court, Gandhi can get relief.
However, a BJP leader said, "The order has just come. What is the hurry?"
Prasad said Gandhi's London remarks reflected his "Maoist thoughts". "He does not believe in the nation state. He is habitual of making statements to weaken the country, insult soldiers, insult democracy. If he wins, democracy is good, if he loses it is not. If he gets a favourable judgment the judiciary is good, else it is not. This is the Congress party's democracy."
The BJP also slammed Congress leaders for backing Gandhi despite his "defamatory comments against the entire Modi community".
While the case in Surat was filed against Gandhi by former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi, another case for the same slur is pending against Gandhi in a Patna court. That case has been filed by BJP MP and Bihar ex-deputy CM Sushil Modi. The verdict in that case is expected soon.