K.V. Seetharamaiah
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has suffered a severe setback in Gujarat High Court also. Surat Court’s conviction order in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi sentencing him to two years jail sentence was upheld by the Surat Sessions court. Now Gujarat High Court has turned down the plea of Gandhi to stay his conviction. Rahul Gandhi has learnt no lesson from the unconditional apology he had to tender in the Supreme Court in Rafale case for calling Chowkidar Chor Hai, a reference obviously made to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While Gandhi’s right to criticize the Prime Minister cannot be infringed, criticism should be more against the Prime Minister or his government for his policies and programmes. Personal and political vendetta coming from one against the other serves neither political interest nor national interest. These will only vitiate the political atmosphere. In his 125-page ruling, Justice Hemant Prachchhak of Gujarat High Court has emphasized the need for purity in politics. Mud-slinging has become more a norm than an exception. The judge has observed “the applicant is trying to seek a stay of his conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. It is a well-settled principle of law that a stay of conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases”.
The judge has also pointed out that there are 10 criminal cases pending against Rahul Gandhi. It is said “a single death is tragedy, but scores of deaths are statistics”. The same analogy seems to apply for criminal cases in courts also. A single case in court bothers the accused very much. But when there are a number of cases, the accused will get used to it. It hardly matters if some more additions are made to the existing cases. The gravity of the crime by the disqualified MP is that it has prompted the judge to say “Rahul’s alleged act would also be punishable under Section 171G of the IPC (false statement in connection with an election). The Gujarat High Court has held the trial court’s order “just, proper and legal”. The High Court has rightly said “it was not an individual centric defamation case, but something which affected a large section of the society. In a rally at Kolar in Karnataka, Rahul Gandh had said “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” He has not only (mis) directed his ire against Modi, but also the entire community of people having “Modi” as surname. Punishment is also part of educative process to learn in life.