A special court in Ranchi on Wednesday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea to exempt him from personal appearance in a hearing on the “Modi surname case” in which he was convicted by a Gujarat court in March this year and subsequently disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha.
The defamation case in Ranchi court was filed by an advocate, Pradip Modi, for Gandhi’s alleged remark that “all Modis are thieves” at an election rally in Ranchi in 2019.
Gandhi’s counsel Pradeep Chandra said the special MP/MLA court rejected their petition for exemption from personal appearance in the case. “The court has fixed May 22 as the next date of hearing in the case. But we will challenge the order in high court before that,” he said.
Earlier, Gandhi had challenged the lower court’s summon in Jharkhand high court, which rejected his quashing petition on July 2, 2022.
Subsequently, the lower court had issued fresh summons to Gandhi.
In effect, if Rahul fails to seek relief from a higher court, he shall have to appear before the lower court.
