Modi surname remark row: Rahul Gandhi sentenced to 2-year in jail , gets bail

Gujarat, March 23: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was held guilty by a corut in Surat in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his alleged 'Modi surname' remarks.

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The Surat District Court pronounced the verdict in the case for his alleged "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remarks on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi. Gandhi had made the alleged remarks about Modi's surname at a rally in Karnataka's Kolar, ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi has been convicted under IPC section 504. The maximum possible punishment under this section is two years.

Meanwhile, in the major development, he was later granted bail by a Gujarat court on a surety amount of Rs 15,000, 

Notably, Rahul Gandhi arrived in Surat earlier in the day for the verdict and was received by top leaders of the Congress's Gujarat unit.

Rahul Gandhi had made the alleged remarks about Modi's surname at a rally in Karnataka's Kolar, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Last week, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma concluded hearing final arguments from both sides and set March 23 to pronounce its judgment in the four-year-old defamation case

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