The Supreme Court has stayed the sentence of Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Modi surname case’. After getting relief from the Supreme Court, Rahul Gandhi can appeal to get back the membership of the Lok Sabha. If his sentence is stayed till the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held next year, then he can also contest the elections. The Congress has called the verdict on Rahul a victory of truth.

A three judges bench comprising of Justice BR Gavai, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Sanjay Kumar heard the case for about one and a half hours on Friday. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared on behalf of Rahul Gandhi while senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appeared on behalf of Purnesh Modi and SG Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union Government.

As soon as the hearing started Mr. Singhvi presented his side, after which Jethmalani presented his arguments.  Mr. Singhvi had mainly argued 6 points before the Supreme Court but his two arguments which impressed the judges and which became reason for the decision in favour of Gandhi are:-

1. Maximum sentence in defamation case- Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, said that I am neither a rapist nor a murderer. Despite this, we have been given maximum punishment in a defamation case.

Singhvi said during the hearing that the court made the basis of other registered cases, while most of the cases against Rahul have been registered out of political malice. We are giving you the list of those cases, which have been registered by the BJP workers. The sections in which the case was registered were not made at all. At the time of testimony, the witness also accepted that he had no knowledge about Rahul's intentions. Rahul's speech was not about any one person. Still we have been sentenced to remain silent for 8 years. While giving the verdict after the hearing, the court said that no reason has been given by the learned judge of the trial court while awarding the maximum sentence. The maximum punishment in this case is 2 years or fine or both. The Supreme Court said that especially when the offense is non-cognizable, bailable or compoundable, the trial judge is expected to give reasons for awarding the maximum sentence, which was not done in this case.

2. Rahul was an MP, people's rights were affected - During the hearing, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that Rahul Gandhi was an MP from Wayanad. He has been treated like a criminal while sentencing in a criminal defamation case.

Singhvi further said that we also went to the High Court against the decision. I finished the hearing there in May, but the court's decision came in July. The court stayed the order for 66 days despite knowing that it was a matter of Lok Sabha membership. While giving the verdict, Justice Gavai said that the whole case is entangled because of giving maximum punishment. If the trial court had sentenced the punishment to one day less than 2 years, then the membership could have been saved. The court further said that in view of the failure of the trial court judge to give the reason for awarding the maximum punishment and in view of the issue of membership of a public representative, the conviction is stayed.

The Supreme Court also commented on the order of the High Court. Justice Gavai said that the learned judges who gave such a big decision did not pay attention to these things. The High Court had ordered 106 pages in the Rahul defamation case.

During the hearing, Singhvi said that the CD of Rahul's speech is being presented in the court. Neither the person making the complaint is aware of who made the CD nor who gave it to him. Then how can CD be a reference?

Singhvi said that Purnesh got all the content through WhatsApp. He further said that the complainant himself had approached the High Court to stay the trial saying that he wanted to get evidence. Then after one year he gets the stay removed from the High Court and a decision is taken on this. The community's population is 13 crore, but how can only BJP people be the victims?

During the hearing in the Supreme Court, Singhvi said that the population of Modi or Modh community is 13 crores in the whole country. Purnesh also comes from the same community. Rahul Gandhi made a comment, which was for fugitives. None of the people on whom Rahul made comments lodged a complaint.

Singhvi further said- The big question is that out of 13 crore population of Modi community, why only BJP people are suffering? This is an interesting case.  He said that there are many sub-castes in the Modi community as well, so no case can be made against Purnesh.