Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's swipe at SC relief for Rahul Gandhi: ‘Parts which weren't highlighted'

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday continued his swipe on the Supreme Court's relief for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case by pointing out three sentences from the top court's order which were “not highlighted”.

“The parts of the Supreme Court's verdict, which were not highlighted yesterday in the midst of so-called celebration,” Sarma wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Also read: Supreme Court stays Rahul Gandhi's conviction in defamation case: Here's what next

“Para 8, the Hon Supreme Court states - the utterances by Rahul Gandhi are not in good taste; “a person in public life is expected to exercise a degree of restraint while making public speeches and he ought to have been more careful. The order has a clear reference to Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 contempt case in the Hon'ble Supreme Court underlining his credibility as a repeat offender,” the CM mentioned.

In the third point, Sarma said, “the Hon'ble SC makes it clear that the stay will not influence the ongoing appeal process at the lower court.”

Earlier on Friday, Sarma took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi after the apex court stayed his conviction in the 2019 Modi surname defamation case, “Heights of duplicity! You abuse the judiciary when you get convicted, and when the same judiciary grants you bail, you say justice has prevailed."

A three-judge top court bench of justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha, and Sanjay Kumar restored Rahul Gandhi's status as a member of Parliament on Friday saying, “The ramifications of Gandhi's conviction are wide since it will also affect the right of the electorates who elected him.”

Also read: ‘Satyameva Jayate’: Priyanka Gandhi hails SC relief for Rahul in defamation case

"No reason has been given by the trial judge for imposing maximum sentence, the order of conviction needs to be stayed pending final adjudication," the bench said.

On March 23, a magisterial court had convicted Gandhi based upon the complaint filed by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi in 2019 over his "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remark made during an election rally in Karnataka Kolar in 2019.