Guwahati: On Saturday, the Congress in Nagaland protested in silence after the Gujarat High Court refused to grant Rahul Gandhi's request for a stay of his conviction in a criminal defamation case. According to S Supongmeren Jamir, head of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee, Gandhi is supported by Congress in their fight against the corruption and abuse of government funds by the Narendra Modi-led administration. "The Gujarat High Court's refusal of a stay against the conviction is a murder of democracy," he declared.
Gandhi's request for a stay of execution in a criminal defamation lawsuit stemming from his "Modi surname" statement was denied by the Gujarat High Court on Friday.
Gandhi already has ten cases pending against him across the nation, according to Justice Hemant Prachchhak, who also ruled that there is no good cause for the lower court's conviction of the Congress leader to have stayed. The Kohima district's officials and state party leaders joined the demonstration outside Congress Bhavan to show their support for Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi was "erroneously" found guilty of defamation in the case involving his remark about the "Modi surname" and was later barred from running for office, according to the Congress.
In the current situation, the NPCC stated that the party stood united and reaffirmed that Rahul Gandhi was not fighting for truth and justice alone. It added that millions of lawmakers and crores of people, regardless of their political affiliations, were with him in this struggle.
Senior leaders, heads of frontal organizations, departments, and cells, party members, and party sympathizers joined the silent protest.
K C Venugopal, general secretary of the Congress (organization), informed all state unit leaders of the party and important figures about the protest in a letter dated July 7, 2023.
Justice Hemant Prachchhak rejected the Congress leader's appeal and said that the lower court's decision to sentence Gandhi to two years in prison for his comments was "just, proper, and legal" despite the fact that Gandhi was already the subject of 10 criminal proceedings around India. Gandhi was found guilty on March 23 of violating Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) in a case brought by BJP Gujarat MLA Purnesh Modi, and was given a two-year prison sentence.
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