Rahul Gandhi appears in Surat court in defamation lawsuit

SURAT: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today appeared in a Surat magistrate's court to give his final statement in a criminal defamation case brought by a Gujarat MLA over the former's remark on the "Modi surname."

Surat's Chief Judicial Magistrate A N Dave a week back ​ordered Gandhi to appear in court on June 24 to record his last statement in the case, which he did last week.

Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Surat, filed a defamation complaint against Gandhi in April 2019 under IPC Sections 499 and 500. 

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In his complaint, the MLA said Gandhi defamed the whole Modi community by asking during a political rally in 2019: "How come all the thieves have Modi as their common surname?"

On April 13, 2019, during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked, "Narendra Modi, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, ... Why do they all have the surname Modi in common? What gives that Modi is the most popular surname among thieves?"

Gandhi had previously been in court in October 2019, where he pleaded not guilty to making the remark.

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