Supreme Court stays Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in defamation case

Supreme Court stays Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in defamation case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case. The order — which came from a three-judge Bench led by Justice BR Gavai – would revive his Lok Sabha membership from Wayanad constituency in Kerala.

The top court said the trial court didn’t give any reasons for awarding the maximum sentence of two years to the Congress leader.

It noted that due to the two-year maximum sentence, Gandhi was disqualified which not only affected him but also the electorate of his constituency.

The Bench, however, noted that Gandhi should have been more careful in making the remarks that led to filing of the defamation case against him.

Maintaining that the utterances of Rahul Gandhi were not in “good taste”, the top court said a person in public life ought to have been more careful while making public speeches.

“Though the learned appellate (sessions) court and the High Court have spent voluminous pages in denying stay on conviction, these aspects have not been gone into,” the top court said.