‘Modi’ surname remark | BJP MLA Purnesh Modi files caveat in Rahul Gandhi defamation case
The Hindu
BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, the complainant in the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if the Congress leader moves a plea challenging the high court verdict refusing to stay his conviction in the Modi surname remark case.
BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, the complainant in the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if the Congress leader moves a plea challenging the high court verdict refusing to stay his conviction in the Modi surname remark case.
A single judge bench of the Gujarat High Court had on July 7 dismissed Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the defamation case.
According to the apex court website, Purnesh Modi filed the caveat on the same day in the top court through his lawyer P.S. Sudheer.
Editorial | Defamation perils: on the Rahul Gandhi case
A caveat is filed in an appellate court by a litigant seeking an opportunity of being heard if any order is passed on the appeal of an opponent challenging the order or judgement of the court below.
In a setback to 53-year-old Gandhi, Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the high court had dismissed the appeal of Mr. Gandhi saying "it is now the need of the hour to have purity in politics”.
It also noted that the representatives of people should be "men of clear antecedent" and that a stay on conviction is not a rule, but an exception resorted to only in rare cases and there was no reasonable ground to stay his conviction.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.