Rahul Gandhi plea to stay conviction to be heard by Justice Hemant Prachchhak of Gujarat High Court on Saturday

Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the Gujarat High Court will hear on April 29 the appeal filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking stay on his conviction by a Magistrate court in a criminal defamation case against him [Rahul Gandhi vs Purnesh Modi]..This comes after Justice Gita Gopi recused herself from hearing the appeal on April 26, when Gandhi's counsel Pankaj Champaneri mentioned the matter in her court seeking an urgent hearing. Justice Gopi had said "not before me" and had ordered to place the papers before Acting Chief Justice for assigning a new bench.As per the Gujarat High Court website, Justice Prachchhak is likely to take up this appeal for hearing on Saturday, April 29..A sessions court in Surat had, on April 20, earlier dismissed Gandhi's plea seeking suspension of his conviction by the Magistrate court.In a detailed order, the sessions court held that Gandhi's disqualification would not amount to be an irreparable or an irreversible loss to him and refused interim relief to him.The now disqualified parliamentarian from Wayanad, Kerala was convicted by a Magistrate court in Surat on March 23 for his remark "all thieves have Modi surname" which he had made at an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar in 2019.Gandhi had, in his speech linked Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.He had said,"Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi. How come all the thieves have 'Modi' as a common surname?"Purnesh Modi, a former BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), took exception to the said speech claiming that Gandhi humiliated and defamed persons with the Modi surname.The magistrate court in Surat accepted the contention of Modi that by his speech, Gandhi has intentionally insulted the people with a 'Modi' surname.In his 168-page judgment, Judge Hadirash Varma said that since Gandhi is a Member of Parliament (MP), whatever he says will have a greater impact. Thus, he should have exercised restraint."The accused had taken the reference of the surname of the current Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, to satisfy his political greed and insulted and defamed 13 crore people living in the whole of India having the surname 'Modi'" the judge held.The sessions judge refused to stay the same leading to the present plea before the High Court.