The Gujarat High Court issued a notice to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on a plea by state BJP minister Purnesh Modi, challenging a Surat court order rejecting his application filed in connection with a criminal defamation case against the Congress leader over his 2019 “Modi surname” remarks.
Purnesh Modi recently approached the High Court challenging the February 23 order of the Surat court that had rejected the minister’s application to make Rahul ‘personally explain contents of the CDs and/or pen drives and/or such other electronic records’ related to his speech.
The BJP minister (then a legislator) had filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi over his remarks on “Modi surname” made while addressing a Lok Sabha election rally at Kolar, Karnataka in 2019.
The complainant said the Congress MP’s alleged remarks, “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” defamed the entire Modi community.
Gandhi had pleaded not guilty during his appearance before the Surat court last year. The court had also recorded the former Congress president’s statement in the case filed by the BJP leader in April 2019 under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation).
In an order passed last week, Justice VM Pancholi issued notices, returnable on March 28, to respondents Gandhi and the Gujarat government.
The HC also granted an interim stay on proceedings in the private criminal defamation case pending before the Surat court as prayed by the complainant.
