The Court in its 123-page-long judgment underlined grounds against Gandhi which increased the seriousness of the offence. In this piece, we take a look at five main grounds
The Gujarat High Court on Friday delivered its verdict on the plea by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against the conviction and two-year jail term imposed on him by a Magistrate court in a criminal defamation case for his remark on ‘Modi’ surname. [Rahul Gandhi v Purnesh Modi]
Single-judge Justice Hemant Prachchhak determined that no case was made out to stay the conviction.
“In anyway, conviction would not result in any injustice to the applicant. The conviction order is just, proper and legal. There is no need to interfere with the said order. Therefore, the application is dismissed,” the Court held.
The Court in its 123-page-long judgment underlined grounds against Gandhi which increased the seriousness of the offence.
Below are five grounds on which the Court denied relief to Gandhi.
Defamation a serious offence of public character involving fundamental right to reputation and dignity
Relying on the Supreme Court’s judgment in Subramanian Swamy Vs. Union of India, the High Court underlined that reputation as a concept has been recognised to be an important part of the personality of a person and has become a fundamental right.
The Court said that the offence under Section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) can be considered to be a serious offence having a large public character which affects the society at large in a case wherein a large number of persons of the society have been defamed.