Rahul Gandhi to appeal jail sentence

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will appeal a two-year jail sentence in a defamation case brought against him by lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), local media reported on Sunday.

Gandhi, the 52-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and leader of the Congress party, was found guilty of defamation by a court in the western state of Gujarat over comments he made in a speech in 2019.

Gandhi has filed a plea in the Surat sessions court against the magistrate order, the Indian Express newspaper reported, while a senior Congress party official, who declined to be named, told Reuters the court is scheduled to hear the plea on Monday.

Gandhi’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

India’s parliament disqualified Gandhi after sentencing as the law that governs elections in India mandates disqualification of any lawmaker who is “convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years”.

A lower court sentenced Gandhi on March 23 for two years in jail on charges of defamation.

Opposition politicians say Gandhi’s trial and the disqualification is the latest evidence of the Modi government’s strongarm tactics and follows investigations and legal troubles faced in recent months by other opposition parties.

Gandhi said on March 25 that he would not comment on his sentence as the matter was subjudice, but he said his disqualification from parliament was because he had asking Modi what he called “tough questions” over Modi’s relationship with Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani conglomerate.

The opposition critics accuse Modi government of giving undue favours to a business group led by billionaire tycoon Adani.

Shares of Adani group companies plunged after Hindenburg Research on Jan. 24 alleged that the Indian company had engaged in stock manipulation and used tax havens. It also said the group had unsustainable debt.

A day after Gandhi’s conviction, 14 political parties jointly petitioned the Supreme Court, saying opposition groups were being selectively targeted by federal investigative agencies. The court has agreed to hear the plea on April 5.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav and Rupam Jain; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)