'Modi' surname case: Patna HC stays trial court order against Rahul Gandhi

Patna (Bihar) [India], April 25 : The Patna High Court on Monday granted relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the 'Modi surname' case, putting a stay on the order of the trial court.
Advocate Ansul, who appeared for Rahul Gandhi, argued that once the petitioner has been tried and convicted by the lower court below in Surat (Gujarat) for the same offence -- for his public statement on the surname 'Modi' -- the present prosecution in this state for the same offence cannot proceed any further.
The advocate submitted further that the judgment 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 Cr.P.C. was not been considered.
Noting the submissions, Justice Sandeep Kumar on Monday listed the case on 15.05.2023 for further hearing. Till the next date of hearing, further proceedings of the lower court in connection with the case shall remain stayed.
Earlier, Patna's lower court had asked the Congress leader to appear and present his case in connection with a petition filed against him by former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi in 2019 for the former's alleged objectionable remark on the 'Modi' surname.
This is another case in connection with the same remark that Rahul made in 2019, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Kolar, Karnataka.
Rahul moved the Patna High Court, seeking a direction to quash the lower court order.
Virendra Rathore, another advocate appearing for the Congress leader, said they have filed a quashing petition, alleging that when a matter is already under trial in Surat court then there cannot be another trial in a different court in the same case.
"We had filed a quashing petition. When a matter is already under trial in Surat court then there cannot be another trial in a different court in the same matter. This is illegal," he said, adding, "The next hearing is on May 16 and all lower court proceedings have been stayed till then. The court accepted Rahul Gandhi's plea and gave him relief. Now, he will not have to appear in the lower court in Patna," said Rathore.
Meanwhile, on April 20, the Surat court dismissed the application filed by Rahul in which the Congress leader had sought a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case over the 'Modi' surname remark.
Earlier, on April 3, the Surat sessions court granted bail to the Congress leader, who had filed an appeal following his conviction in the case.
A Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad Rahul was disqualified after a lower court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a criminal defamation case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.