Purnesh Modi and the Gujarat government have received notice from the Supreme Court in relation to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Modi surname’ statement defamation lawsuit. The Gujarat government and Purnesh Modi were served with a notice by the Supreme Court on Friday regarding Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the Modi last name case. The notification requested a response within 10 days. Justice BR Gavai, who was hearing the case, instructed senior attorney Abhishek Manu Singhvi that they must hear the opposing side as he argued for an emergency remedy, claiming that Gandhi had been suffering for more than 100 days, missed the previous session of Parliament, and is currently missing another one.
Sangvi also said that elections would soon be held for the Wayanad parliamentary district, where Rahul Gandhi served as an MP. On August 4, the court set the subject for hearing. Justice Gavai stated during the hearings that his brother is still involved in politics and is a member of the Congress, and that his father spent 40 years in Congress even though he was not a member. “Please take a call if you want me to hear this,” he stated, as per Bar and Bench. They both expressed reservations as a result, the petitioner and respondents.
Earlier, after Gandhi’s senior attorney Abhishek Singhvi asked for the appeal to be scheduled for either July 21 or July 24, the bench made up of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha, and Manoj Mishra allowed the hearing. The plea will be heard in court on July 21, according to news agency PTI. He stated in his July 15 appeal that the July 7 ruling would have a negative influence on freedom of speech, expression, thinking, and statements if it is not postponed. Gandhi said something during an election rally in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, prompting Purnesh Modi, a former minister in the Gujarat government, to file a defamation lawsuit. “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
Gandhi emphasized that although the conviction itself had been upheld, the two-year sentence imposed on him for criminal defamation was a rare event. He was consequently disqualified from running for any political office for eight years, which damaged his political career irreparably by banning him from taking part in parliamentary proceedings. Rahul Gandhi requested an ex parte ad interim stay on the Gujarat High Court’s order from July 7 as well as an ad interim stay of his conviction in order to get these temporary reliefs while the Supreme Court’s appeal was pending.
He contended that the verdict incorrectly applied the phrase “moral turpitude” to a case that did not include serious crimes, and that such a finding may negatively affect political free speech during a campaign. Gandhi further called attention to the mischaracterization of his one-line remark, which supposedly defamed a 13 crore strong undefined group of people with the last name “Modi.”