03-04-2023 : On March 23, 2023, Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by the Surat magistrate court. This led to his disqualification as a Member of Parliament from the Lok Sabha. However, he was granted bail and given 30 days to appeal the verdict.
On April 3, 2023, Gandhi filed an appeal in the Surat District and Sessions Court seeking a stay on his conviction. The court extended his bail until April 13 and scheduled the next hearing for May 3.
Gandhi was accompanied by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior leaders, including chief ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Himachal Pradesh, to the Gujarat court. The BJP heavily criticized Gandhi and alleged that he was trying to pressurize the judiciary by going with his family and some chief ministers “with pomp and show” to “repeat and add to the insult” of the OBC community.
The Congress leaders, on the other hand, said that they were accompanying Gandhi to show solidarity with him and fight against the injustice. They denied the allegations of pressurizing the judiciary and called it a childish attempt by the BJP to threaten the judiciary.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also criticized the Congress for doing drama to threaten the judiciary, while Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at the Congress and questioned whether one family is bigger than the country. However, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge maintained that they were standing by their leader, and it was a decision of the whole party to accompany him.
ये ‘मित्रकाल’ के विरुद्ध, लोकतंत्र को बचाने की लड़ाई है।
इस संघर्ष में, सत्य मेरा अस्त्र है, और सत्य ही मेरा आसरा! pic.twitter.com/SYxC8yfc1M
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 3, 2023