Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, 24 June, appeared before a magistrate’s court in Surat to record his final statement in a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA over the former’s remark on the “Modi surname”.
Gandhi’s counsel, Kirit Panwala, later said that the MP’s mentioning of the Modi surname was just to show the misdeeds of Narendra Modi and not to defame anyone else or a particular community. Besides, as far as he knew, there wasn't any community named Modi, Times of India reported.
She added that, according to Gandhi, “It was his duty to highlight the misdeeds of the Prime Minister and that indeed he did by mentioning his surname, but as far as any other Modi was concerned, he never had any intention of defaming him or her.”
MLA Purnesh Modi had filed the complaint against Gandhi in April 2019, under IPC Sections 499 and 500.
In his complaint, the MLA had alleged that Gandhi defamed the entire Modi community by saying “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” while addressing a poll rally in 2019.
“Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi…how come they all have Modi as the common surname?” asked the then Congress President, Rahul Gandhi, during an election rally held in Karnataka’s Kolar on 13 April, 2019.
Gandhi earlier appeared before the court in October 2019 and pleaded not guilty for his comment.
(With updates from TOI)
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