In a criminal defamation case, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years in prison.
Mr. Gandhi was convicted by a court in Gujarat state for comments he made about the appellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally in 2019.
He has been granted parole for 30 days and plans to file an appeal of his conviction.
The Congress party representative was present in court for sentencing, which occurred a year before the upcoming general election.
In April 2019, at an election rally in the state of Karnataka before the last general election, Mr. Gandhi asked, “Why do all these criminals have the surname, Modi? Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi.”
The Indian cricket authority has banned former IPL boss Lalit Modi for life. Nirav Modi is a wanted Indian diamond magnate. Mr. Gandhi claimed he made the comment to draw attention to graft, not a specific group.
On the premise of a complaint filed by Purnesh Modi, a lawmaker from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, he was charged with defaming the entire Modi community with his remarks.
However, some have expressed confusion regarding the order.
Legal scholar Gautam Bhatia tweeted that “references to a generic class of persons” – in this instance, surnames – are not “actionable unless an individual can demonstrate a direct reference to themselves.”
Mr. Bhatia stated, “If a man says ‘all lawyers are thieves,’ I, as a lawyer, cannot file a defamation suit against him unless I can demonstrate that the remark was directed at me.”
According to British law, criminal defamation in India can result in two years in jail, a fine, or both.
Free speech advocates say the law violates freedom and is used by lawmakers to silence critics.
In 2016, several prominent Indian politicians, including Mr. Gandhi, filed legal petitions arguing for the decriminalization of defamation. The Supreme Court of India, however, upheld the law’s validity, stating that “the right to free speech cannot mean that a citizen can defame another.”
The Congress party tweeted that Mr. Gandhi would file an appeal and that “we will fight and prevail”
Mr. Gandhi tweeted a quote in Hindi from India’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. “My religion is founded on truth and nonviolence. “The truth is my god, and nonviolence is using obtaining it.”
His attorney, Kirit Panwala, informed that after the order, Mr. Gandhi told the judge that he had made the speech “in support of democracy.”
He added that their defense of Mr. Gandhi was based on four points. “First, Mr. Gandhi is not a resident of Gujarat. So an investigation should be conducted before filing the complaint. Secondly, there is no Modi community. Thirdly, there is no association between individuals with the surname Modi and Mr. Gandhi’s speech had no malicious intent.”
After his conviction, some questioned Mr. Gandhi’s status as a member of parliament.
In India, defamation alone cannot be grounds for disqualification. A representative can be disqualified for offenses spanning from promoting animosity to election-related fraud. However, they may also be disqualified if convicted of a crime carrying a sentence of two years or more.
Mr. Gandhi is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, which provided India with three prime ministers. His great-grandfather was India’s first and longest-serving prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. His grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was the country’s first female prime minister, and his father, Rajiv Gandhi, was the youngest prime minister in Indian history.
Their party, the Congress, governed India almost continuously. Except for a few years – from 1947 until 2014 when Narendra Modi’s BJP won a landslide victory. Since then, the Congress has diminished to a mere shell of its former self, and the BJP defeated it again in the 2019 general election.
