The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to complainant Purnesh Modi and the State of Gujarat in a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay of his conviction in a criminal defamation case.A Bench led by Justice BR Gavai listed the case for hearing on August 4.The case relates to Mr. Gandhi’s “Modi” surname remark in a political speech during a rally in Karnataka in 2019.A request by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi and advocate Prasanna S., appearing for Mr. Gandhi, for an “interim suspension” of the conviction was refused.Justice Gavai said that cannot be done without hearing the rival side first.“At this stage, without hearing the other side, how can we give?” Justice Gavai asked.Mr. Singhvi pressed the need for an urgent hearing of the case as 111 days have already passed since Mr. Gandhi’s disqualification from the House. He has already missed one session, and is unable to participate in the ongoing monsoon sitting of the Parliament.When senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani objected, Mr. Singhvi said “your client needs to be bothered only about the conviction part and not the disqualification part”. Mr. Singhvi said the by-elections for the Wayanad constituency may be announced any time. There was a constitutional mandate under Section 151A of the Representation of People Act 1951 to not allow the vacancy of a seat for more than six months.Mr. Jethmalani said he needed time to file written submissions on “propositions of law and questions of fact” in the case.The Bench initially scheduled the case within the next 10 days on July 31, but finally fixed the case for hearing on August 4.
