Rahul Gandhi: India’s Congress leader sentenced to jail for Modi ‘thieves’ remark
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison in a criminal defamation case.
The Congress MP was convicted by the court in Gujarat state for 2019 comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname at an election rally.
Mr Gandhi, who was present in court for sentencing, remains out of jail on bail for 30 days and will appeal.
His party said he was being targeted for exposing the government’s “dark deeds”. Elections are due next year.
A Congress spokesman said the ruling was full of “legally unsustainable conclusions” – and vowed its politicians would not be silenced.
“Make no mistake. All your attempts to create a chilling effect, a throttling effect, a strangulating effect on open fearless speech relating to public influence will not stop either Rahul Gandhi or the Congress Party,” Abhishek Manu Singhvi told a news conference. [Continue reading…]