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Gujarat High Court Rejects Rahul Gandhi's Plea, Leading To Loss Of Parliamentary Membership
- Gujarat High Court dismisses Rahul Gandhi's plea to suspend conviction, resulting in his loss of parliamentary membership. The court affirms the decision of a lower court, stating that there are multiple pending criminal cases against Gandhi.
- The high court emphasizes that his request for a stay on conviction is based on non-existent grounds.
Rahul Gandhi faced a significant setback as the Gujarat High Court rejected his plea to suspend his conviction and two-year prison sentence in a criminal defamation case. This ruling resulted in the loss of his membership in Parliament. The high court order means that Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha continues.
Justice Hemant Prachchhak affirmed the decision of a Gujarat sessions court, which had refused to put on hold a magisterial court order on March 23 convicting the Congress leader and handing out the maximum punishment provided for criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code.
Reading out the operative part of the order, the judge noted that there are at least eight other criminal cases pending against Gandhi. The high court requested the sessions court to decide Gandhi’s appeal on merits as early as possible so that after the present case, some more cases were filed against him. One such is filed by the grandson of Veer Savarkar. In any way, the conviction would not result in any injustice.
The high court further stated that Gandhi's request for a stay on his conviction was based on 'completely non-existent grounds,' emphasizing that granting a stay on conviction is an exception rather than a rule.
Meanwhile, in March, the magisterial court found Gandhi guilty of his comments made prior to the 2019 national elections about the surname "Modi." Allegedly, he had remarked, "How come all thieves have Modi surname in common. As a result, Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment, which led to his disqualification as a Member of Parliament under the provisions of the Representation of People Act. Following a notification from the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Gandhi was officially disqualified as an MP from Wayanad, Kerala, on March 24.
