Rahul Gandhi gets bail in another defamation case
| Date :07-Jul-2019 |
PATNA:
RAHUL Gandhi was granted bail on Saturday after he appeared before a court here in a defamation case filed by BJP leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, days after a Mumbai court held that the Congress leader would face trial for alleged slander against the RSS.
The Congress leader, who recently resigned as party President, surrendered before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Kumar Gunjan, who is the judge for special MPs and MLAs court here, and was granted bail. Sushil Modi’s counsel,Shambhu Prasad,said the court fixed August 8 as the next date of hearing in the case. “We did not oppose his bail. Thecourt explainedtohimthe accusation against him and asked whether he pleaded guilty,” Prasad told PTI.
“The respondent replied in the negative and the matter was posted for further hearing on August 8.”Gandhi was slapped with the defamation suit by Sushil Modi inApril forhis remark:“why all thieves have the surname Modi?”. The comment was an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, absconding bank-fraud accused Nirav Modi and former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi.
The Deputy Chief Minister had moved the court alleging that hewaspersonallyanguishedby Gandhi’s remarks since he sharedthe same surname.The ex-Congress chief’s appearance in the Patna court comes two days after he and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, pleaded not guilty in a Mumbai court in another defamation case filed against them by an RSS worker.