Gujarat high court to hear Rahul Gandhi's plea in defamation case today

The Gujarat high court will hear on Saturday Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal against the order of a Surat court which declined to stay his conviction in a 2019 defamation case last week.

As per the cause list published on Thursday by the high court, Gandhi's appeal will be heard by Justice Hemant Prachchhak on 29 April.

On Wednesday, justice Gita Gopi, who was supposed to hear the plea, had recused herself from the case. "When the matter came up for hearing in the second half today, justice Gita Gopi, in whose court the matter was listed, said, 'not before me'," Gandhi's counsel P S Champaneri had said.

A metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat on 23 March had convicted and sentenced Gandhi to two years in prison in a criminal defamation case for a remark he made about the Modi surname ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Due to his conviction, Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad on 24 March On 3 April, the former Congress president filed an appeal before the sessions court against the verdict and was subsequently granted bail till the disposal of his plea.

On 20 April, the court rejected Gandhi's plea for a stay on his conviction, prompting him to move the high court.

Under the law, the conviction and two-year jail term renders Gandhi unfit to enter either House of Parliament for a period of eight years. But this can be reversed if he can get the conviction overturned or the sentence reduced to less than two years by a higher court.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi, who is the complainant in the case, called Gandhi a repeat offender and said the latter's appeal was a "dirty display of childish arrogance".