Gujarat HC refuses to stay Rahul conviction

Judge calls for purity in politics, upholds trial court's 2-year jail term in defamation case

- DILIP SINGH KSHATRIYA

CONGRESS leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday suffered another setback as the Gujarat High Court rejected his review petition that requested suspending his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case.

Observing that the need of the hour is “purity in politics”, Justice Hemant Prachchhak in his 125-page ruling said, “the applicant is trying to seek a stay of his conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. It is a well-settled principle of law that a stay of conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases.”

The judge pointed out that as many as 10 criminal cases were pending against Rahul, including one filed by the grandson of Veer Savarkar in Pune for making allegedly defamatory statements against the freedom fighter during the Congress leader’s recent UK visit. Besides, a complaint was filed in a Lucknow court.

As such, “refusal to stay the conviction would not in any way result in injustice to the applicant,” the court said.