HC decision today on stay in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, April 23

The provision related to double jeopardy has been invoked by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s counsel Anshul Kumar to seek a stay on the proceedings underway in Patna in connection with the defamation case filed against Rahul by BJP leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the comment against Modi surname made by Rahul at a rally in Kolar in Karnataka in 2019.

The case will come up before the Patna High Court tomorrow. If stay is granted, then Rahul Gandhi — who is busy campaigning in Karnataka — will not need to visit Patna on Tuesday to appear before the trial court hearing the defamation case.

“He (Rahul) has already been convicted in Surat. Exactly the same statement has been brought into question in Patna. We are saying that since he has been convicted in one place, he cannot be convicted in another place. The principle of double jeopardy is there as stated in Article 20 of the Constitution. That is our plea. It is going to be decided on Monday,” Anshul Kumar told this reporter over the phone from Patna.

“We had filed a quashing application in the High Court in 2019 to finish the case. Recently, after his (Rahul’s) conviction in Surat, we have added an additional ground to it saying since he has been convicted in Surat, the same case should not go on here,” Kumar said.

SD Sanjay, former additional solicitor general who is representing Sushil Kumar Modi, said, “We are going challenge the petition in the High Court. Rahul’s remark could harm the reputation of people in different ways. The experience of Sushil Kumar Modi and Purnesh Modi (who filed the case against Rahul Gandhi in Surat) may be different,” Sanjay said.

Rahul Gandhi has been asked by Adi Dev, ACJM-cum-Special-Judge of the MP/MLA Court in Patna, to appear before the court on April 25 to record his statement in connection with the defamation case filed by Sushil Kumar Modi.

Campaigning in Karnataka

If stay is granted, then Rahul Gandhi — who is busy campaigning in Karnataka — will not need to visit Patna on Tuesday to appear before the trial court hearing the defamation case.

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