Patna High Court stays defamation proceedings against Rahul Gandhi [Read Oral Order]

PATNA: The Patna High Court has on Monday stayed the proceedings initiated against top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation complaint filed by former Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi for his 2019 remarks as to why all thieves had Modi surname.

A Patna court had issued summons against Rahul Gandhi for personal appearance on April 25.

Acting on a plea by Rahul Gandhi, a single judge bench of Justice Sandeep Kumar noted a submission by his counsel that once the petitioner has been tried and convicted by a court at Surat (Gujarat) for the same offence i.e. for his statement made in public, the present prosecution in this state for the same offence cannot proceed further.

Modi's counsel, on the other hand, relied upon a judgement by the Jharkhand High Court of July 05, 2022, by which an application of the present petitioner for quashing of the FIR lodged on the basis of the statement of the petitioner has been dismissed.

Bihar's Advocate General P K Shahi supported Rahul Gandhi's plea, saying according to Article 20(2) of the Constitution, the prosecution of the petitioner for the same offence for which he was being tried and convicted by the Surat court below cannot continue at different places.

Rahul Gandhi's counsel also pointed out the judgement of the Jharkhand High Court was passed much before the conviction of the petitioner by the Surat court and therefore, the question that the prosecution of the petitioner is barred under Section 300 of the Criminal Procedure Code has not been considered.

Taking the arguments into consideration, the court said the plea filed by Rahul Gandhi required a full fledged hearing.

The court fixed the matter related to quashing the summons for consideration on May 15.

"Till next date of hearing, further proceeding of the court below in connection with Complaint Case No.1551(C) of 2019 shall remain stayed," the court ordered. 

Senior advocate S D Sanjay appeared for complainant Sushil Modi and advocate Anshul represented Rahul Gandhi in the matter.

On March 23, a Surat court had convicted Rahul Gandhi in a similar defamation case and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. Subsequently, he was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP on the basis of two year jail sentence in the same case.

On April 20, a sessions judge had rejected his plea to stay the conviction with regard to his remarks made in an election rally in 2019 at Karnataka's Kolar, saying Rahul Gandhi should have been more careful with his words being an MP and being president of the second largest political party.

[Read Oral Order]