Rahul Gandhi tells Supreme Court of not being apologetic on his remark

The former MP and the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,has filed a latest in affidavit filed in the Apex Court in his plea to stay the conviction in the criminal defamation case.

In his plea,the leader has asserted that he does not find anything to be apologetic about his remark “why all thieves share Modi surname” remark.

As per the plea the petitioner maintains that he is not guilty of offence and that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier.

Rahul  Gandhi  was called names and arrogant,for not showing repentance and apologizing for the remark.

In his response the former MP ,the consequences under the Representation of Peoples’ Act to arm twist the petitioner into apologising for no fault, is gross abuse of the judicial process and ought not to be countenanced.

This new affidavit filed by Rahul Gandhi is rejoinder to the counter-affidavit filed by the complainant in the case BJP MLA Purnesh Ishwarbhai Modi, who has opposed the suspension of conviction.

The counsel for Gandhi  contented that criminal defamation is not an offence involving moral turpitude.

It was contended that the rare circumstance of awarding the maximum punishment to him is by itself an “exceptional circumstance” to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case.

Gandhi also pointed out that defamation is only one of the 22 offences under the IPC which attracts only simple imprisonment as opposed to rigorous imprisonment. Also, the offence is bailable, non-cognizable and compoundable. These factors point out that the offence is not grave.

It was also added that the award of maximum punishment for such an offence and also the consequent disqualification as MP are exceptional factors which the Court should consider to stay the conviction, he urged.

It was also said that  his role as a Parliamentarian and leader of the opposition, stressing that it was his duty to critically evaluate the conduct of the ruling establishment. He contended that his speech should be seen in its entirety to ascertain whether there was any intention to defame or not.

The Congress leader added that the complainant had not heard the speech himself and that he relied on a WhatsApp screenshot of a news article.

Sown concerns were raised by  Gandhi  about an oral witness presented in the case, claiming that this individual was neither mentioned in the complaint nor was known to him.

About the witness ,the former MP added that the presence of this witness, who allegedly has strong ties with the political rival party, raised suspicion about potential bias.

Regarding the electronic evidence presented against him, Gandhi submitted that the CDs were not attached to the complaint and lacked proper sealing.

The counsel for Gandhi also said thy there’s no “Modi Samaj ” as such. Modi surname falls under various castes and the respondent himself has admitted that Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi do not fall within the same caste.

The leader himself added that there’s an undefined, amorphous group of people and not an identifiable class of people as portrayed.

Counse submitted that he is not a previous convict and contended that previous pending cases cannot be used as criminal antecedents relying on Siddharam Mhatre v State of Maharashtra(2011).

He further stated that the respondent won’t suffer any harm if his conviction is stayed. While on the other hand, it’s causing irreparable harm to him since he cannot participate in the ongoing sittings of Lok Sabha.

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