Citing 'antecedents' of Rahul Gandhi, Gujarat HC says, 'Need of the hour is purity in politics'

The Gujarat High Court, while refusing to stay the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the Modi surname criminal defamation case, mentioned ten other similar cases against the Congress leader to say that "it was the need of the hour to have purity in politics" and "representatives of people should be man of clear antecedent." 

One of the ten cases Justice Hemant Prachchhak mentioned is a defamation case filed by the grandson of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who is mentioned as "Vir Savarkar" in the 125-page order, which was filed after Gandhi's conviction in Surat case. Holding that Gandhi sought stay of conviction on "absolutely non-non-existent grounds", the court said that granting "stay is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases."

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"Moreover, as many as ten criminal cases are pending against the applicant. It is now need of the hour to have purity in politics. Representatives of people should be man of clear antecedent. It also appears from the record that after filing of the said complaint, another complaints came to be filed against the present accused, out of which, one complaint was filed by the grandson of Vir Sawarkar in concerned Court of Puna when the accused used defamation utterances against Vir Sawarkar at Cambridge and another complaint was also filed in concerned Court of Lucknow," the order stated as some of the grounds for refusal. It added that declining to stay the conviction "would not, in any way, result in injustice to the applicant."

In March, Gandhi was sentenced to two-year jail by a Surat magisterial court after holding him guilty in the criminal defamation case filed by local BJP MLA Purnesh Modi for calling people with Modi surnames as "thieves" during an election rally in Karnataka in 2019. Gandhi was awarded the maximum punishment of two years provided under section 499 of the Indian Penal Code and within 24 hours of judgement he was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad in Kerala.

Justice Prachchhak also refused to accept Gandhi's argument that he was sentenced in a case which was "neither serious nor involved moral turpitude." The court, however, found that Gandhi's conviction was a "serious matter affecting a large segment of the society and needs to be viewed by this Court with the gravity and significance it commands."  

The order mentions findings of the trial court, which revealed that Gandhi "suggested name of Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) to add sensation, apparently and for an intention to affect the result of the election of the candidate of concerned constituency belonging to the political party of the Prime Minister and then the accused did not stop there but imputed that “saare choro ke naam Modi hi kyu hai”. Thus, the present case would certainly falls within the category of seriousness of the offence."

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Justice Prachchhak has written, "The accused is a Member of Parliament possessing high position in the society and having bounden duty not to scandalize any person from the society and the defence of fair comment is neither proved nor believed by the Courts below. The revisioner (Gandhi) has breached the modesty, even if his version is accepted and further revisioner owes a duty to each individual and the society in general not to influence the election on the basis of false fact. Thus, under the facts and circumstances of the case, the offence committed by the accused falls in the category of moral turpitude also."  

The order says that Gandhi should have exercised "caution" in his speech. It says that since he is a "senior leader of the oldest political party in India with a large presence and a prominent figure in the realm of the Indian political landscape" his "every utterance automatically gets larger scale publicity."

The court has held that people with "Modi” surname holder and member of “Modi Community” are certainly identifiable / well defined class. Further, “Modi” people are a fraction of Ganchi / Taili / Modhvanik Ghnyati, as per the evidence and thus, again a well-defined identifiable / suable class. Like there is the “Patel” Community as well as surname, “Jain” Community as well as surname, “Modi” is also a community and surname both."