Big news Rahul Gandhi jailed; read why
Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been imprisoned for two years in a criminal slander case.
The court in Gujarat state sentenced Mr Gandhi for 2019 remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname during an election rally.
Court orders jail for Rahul Gandhi on remarks on Modi:
Congress leader will not go to prison for now- he has been given bail for 30 days and can file an appeal against his charges.
The Congress party MP was in court for sentencing a year before general elections were scheduled.
At an election rally in Karnataka state in April 2019, before the previous general election, Mr Gandhi said: “Why do all thieves have Modi as their surname? Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi.”
Nirav Modi is a runaway Indian diamond businessman. At the same time, Lalit Modi is an ex-chief of the Indian Premier League, barred for life by the nation’s cricket board.
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The lawsuit was filed based on a complaint by Purnesh Modi, a lawmaker from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who said that Mr Gandhi’s remarks had slandered the whole Modi community.
But only some have said they are still trying to understand the order.
Legal intellectual Gautam Bhatia wrote that “references to a generic class of persons” – names in this case – are not “actionable unless a person can show a direct connection to themselves”.
“If a man speaks ‘all lawyers are thieves’, then I, as a lawyer, cannot file a lawsuit against him for slander unless I can show its innuendo aimed at me,” Mr Bhatia told.
The Congress party wrote that Mr Gandhi would file an appeal and “we will oppose and win”.
Mr Gandhi has yet to remark publicly but has written a quote in Hindi from Mahatma Gandhi: “My faith is based on facts and non-violence. Truth is my God, and non-violence is the norm to get it.”
