Rahul Gandhi gets 2 years in jail in defamation case; granted bail

NEW DELHI: A court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, which held Gandhi guilty under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, also 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.

Gandhi was present in the court when the verdict was pronounced.

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 from Wayanad made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma had last week concluded hearing final arguments from both sides and set March 23 to pronounce its judgment in the four-year-old defamation case.