In India, the leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, filed an appeal against the sentence handed down in the defamation case.
According to Indian media reports, Rahul Gandhi, 52, was found guilty last month in a defamation case filed by a state legislator belonging to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The court had termed Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 speech as insulting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others. However, the court had suspended his two-year prison sentence and now he has filed an appeal to annul the decision to declare himself guilty.
According to reports, Haral Panwala, a member of Rahul Gandhi’s legal team, told the media that the initial hearing of the appeal will be held on April 13.
It may be recalled that last month a magistrate court in Surat had declared in its verdict that Rahul Gandhi had defamed everyone with the title of Modi, but his lawyer said that Rahul Gandhi while talking about the allegations of high-level corruption. The Prime Minister was referring to Modi and the two businessmen.
According to reports, two more defamation cases have been filed against Rahul Gandhi over the same statement and he will appear in court in one of the cases in the eastern city of Patna on April 12.
It should be noted that Rahul Gandhi is the main leader of the opposition politics and he is the main target of Modi’s BJP even though the BJP is expected to dominate the next general elections compared to the Congress party.