Justice Sandeep Kumar stayed the proceedings while hearing a petition of Gandhi, who has contended that since he has already been convicted in a similar case by a Gujarat court, he cannot be put on trial for the same offence again
Rahul Gandhi. Pic/PTI
The Patna High Court on Monday stayed the proceedings before a trial court here against former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in connection with his alleged slanderous remarks against those having "Modi" surname.
ADVERTISEMENT
Justice Sandeep Kumar stayed the proceedings while hearing a petition of Gandhi, who has contended that since he has already been convicted in a similar case by a Gujarat court, he cannot be put on trial for the same offence again.
"The high court has stayed trial proceedings till May 15, the date on which we will be submitting our reply to the petition," said S D Sanjay, the counsel for former Bihar deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.
Modi had filed a defamation suit against Gandhi a few days after the latter gave the infamous speech at an election rally in Karnataka, during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Also read: Bihar: Four days after hooch tragedy, prohibition minister pays a visit
Notably, the MP/MLA court here had, vide a recent order, asked Gandhi to appear in connection with the petition on April 25.
The Congress leader has been awarded two years in prison by a court in Surat, where BJP MLA Purnesh Modi had sued him for defamation for having made the snide remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fugitive defaulter Nirav Modi and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
The sentence awarded by the Surat court has also led to the disqualification of Gandhi, who represented Kerala's Wayanad seat in the Lok Sabha.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
