New Delhi, Mar 24: After being convicted in criminal defamation case, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from Indian parliament.
Citing a notice from parliament Reuters reported that, India’s parliament on Friday (March 24) disqualified opposition Congress’ leader Rahul Gandhi as a lawmaker after a lower court found him guilty of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison.
The Surat District Court sentenced Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to two years of imprisonment in the criminal defamation case filed against him over his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark.
The case was filed against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remarks on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi. The Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad made the alleged remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi, 52, was convicted on Thursday for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. The court granted him bail immediately and suspended the sentence for a month.
Opposition leaders march to meet the president:
Earlier today, opposition parties are today marching towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan from nearby Vijay Chowk amid heavy security deployment, which has been tasked with stopping the leaders from reaching their destination.
As per reports from , the parties are protesting Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case and to reiterate their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examination into the Adani-Hindenburg dispute.
They are seeking a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu.
Protesting MPs detained:
Because they did not have police permission for the march, some protesting MPs were detained and taken to nearby police stations in a bus. The President also failed to schedule a meeting with them.
