Rahul Gandhi’s conviction by Surat court not as per mandatory provision of IPC : Advocate Zameer Shaikh

Surat : The entire trial of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi by Surat Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) under IPC sections 499 and 500 is not as per the law. According to learned senior advocate Zameer Shaikh, Rahul Gandhi’s remark about the ‘Modi Surname’ was directed at the Modi community rather than an individual, and the IPC sections under which the court issued its judgment and conviction do not comply with the mandatory provisions of IPC sections 499 and 500.

Senior lawyer Zameer Shaikh told The Blunt Times in an exclusive interview that the judgment and conviction order delivered by the JMFC Court in Surat in the ‘Modi Surname’ remark against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi under IPC sections 499 and 500 is not as per the law. Gandhi must file an appeal in order to have the case filed against him under IPC sections 499 and 500 dismissed.

Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC deal with a ‘Person,’ not a group or community. According to IPC 499, whoever, by words spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any ‘person’ intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said to defame that person, except in the cases hereinafter excepted. According to IPC 500, “Whoever defames ‘another’ shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or with a fine, or with both.”

Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and former cabinet minister in Gujarat, filed a defamation suit against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for allegedly saying, “How come all the thieves have Modi as their last name?” The divisive remark was made at a rally in Kolar, Karnataka, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and it slandered the entire Modi community.

“When someone promotes enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and so on, and does acts detrimental to the maintenance of harmony, the police file a FIR under IPC sections 153 and 295. “The defamation case filed against Rahul Gandhi falls under this section rather than IPC 499 and 500,” Shaikh explained.