A Gujarat court held Rahul Gandhi guilty in a criminal defamation case filed for his statement from 2019. The complaint was filed by former Gujarat minister and BJP legislator Purnesh Modi. While campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 in Karnataka’s Kolar, Gandhi had asked "how come all the thieves have Modi as common surname.” The court had initially sentenced him to two years imprisonment, however, it later suspended the sentence for 30 days and granted bail to Rahul.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court of Justice HH Verma heard the final arguments in the case last week. Rahul Gandhi had last appeared in front of the bench in October 2021 to record his statements in the case. The complainant had alleged that the statement is an insult to everybody with the Modi surname and the First Information report (FIR) had been filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), petaining to defamation, under which the maximum punishment is two years imprisonment.

Last week, Delhi police had issued notices to Rahul Gandhi asking him to provide the identity of a sexual assault victim. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi, in Srinagar, had said that a woman had told him that she had been raped but when he offered to take her to the police to file a complaint, she refused and said she would not be safe. The Delhi Police issued a notice 45 days after the statement and Gandhi has sent a four-page letter in response.

This is a developing story.