NEW DELHI: A court in Gujarat’s Surat on Thursday, March 24, held Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed by a BJP MLA against him over “Modi surname” remarks. He was later granted bail by the court.

The case was filed against Gandhi for his alleged "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remarks on a complaint registered by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.

A court in Gujarat’s Surat today held Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed by a BJP MLA against him over “Modi surname” remarks. He was later granted bail by the court.  The court held Gandhi guilty under the section 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi was received at Surat airport by senior state Congress leaders, including GPCC president Jagdish Thakor, legislature party leader Amit Chavda, senior leader Arjun Modhwadia and AICC in-charge of Gujarat Raghu Sharma.

A large number of party leaders assembled at various spots in Surat as a show of strength and support for Gandhi, with posters extolling him as ‘Sher-e-Hindustan’  and placards saying “Congress will not bow before the dictatorship of the BJP”. The case was filed against Gandhi 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.

Rahul Gandhi made the alleged remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

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