GUJRAT: A court in Gujrat sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in prison in a criminal defamation case involving 2019 comments about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally.
The Indian opposition leader will not go to jail immediately as he has been granted bail for 30 days. Rahul Gandhi will file an appeal against the latest conviction.
The Congress MP was present in court during the sentence, which came a year before the general election.
At a poll rally in Karnataka in April 2019, Gandhi asked why these thieves have Modi as their surname, including Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi.”
Nirav Modi is a fugitive Indian diamond tycoon, while Lalit Modi is a former chief of the Indian Premier League who had been banned for life by the Indian cricket board. Rahul Gandhi argued that he had made the comment to highlight what he said was corruption and it was not directed against anyone.
The case against the Congress leader was filed on a complaint filed by Purnesh Modi, a lawmaker from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who said that his comments had defamed the entire Modi community.
Under India’s British-era criminal defamation law, there could be a maximum prison sentence of two years, a fine or both.
Free speech advocates often argue that the law goes against the principles of freedom and that politicians used it to silence their opponents and critics.
