Supreme Court to hear plea by Rahul Gandhi in criminal defamation case on July 21

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list on July 21 a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to suspend his conviction in a criminal defamation case in which he said a political speech critical of economic offenders and also of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made in the course of democratic political activity, has been held to be an act of moral turpitud

Mr. Gandhi has also sought a stay of a Gujarat High Court judgment which according to him “has no parallel or precedent in the jurisprudence of the law of defamation”.Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi and advocate Prasanna S., for Mr. Gandhi, submitted that the case required an urgent hearing.

This has resulted in the inexorable exclusion of the petitioner from all political elective office for a long period of eight years. That too, in the world’s largest democracy where the petitioner has been a former president of the oldest political movement in the country and is also continuously in the vanguard of opposition political activity,” the petition said.

Challenging the July 7 High Court decision, Mr. Gandhi contended that he was served a two-year conviction for allegedly defaming an “undefined amorphous group” which, according to the complainant, Gujarat MLA Purnesh Ishwarbhai Modi, had wronged the reputation of “13 crore people”. Defamation law required the wrong to be done to a well-defined class of people, and not a vague group.