Patna court asks Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on April 12

PATNA: Troubles continue to mount for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as he is supposed to appear before a MP/MLA court in Patna on April 12 in connection with a defamation case lodged against him by BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi (SuMo) for his alleged "why all thieves have Modi surname" remark during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign.
The MP/MLA court of special judicial magistrate Aadi Dev had passed an order on March 18 this year, asking Rahul's counsel Ansul to ensure physical appearance of the Congress leader on April 12 so that the court could record the latter's defence statement.
"Four people have recorded their statement from my side. My case has cogent proofs and I believe that Patna's trial court will soon award suitable punishment to Rahul for his controversial remark," SuMo said in a statement on Thursday.
A Surat court had recently convicted Rahul over the same remark. He was later disqualified as MP from Lok Sabha.
Satyadarshi Sanjay, a senior lawyer arguing for SuMo, said any adjournment in this case would violate the orders of Patna high court and Supreme Court which have set timelines for various stages of trials, including recording of defence statements.
Rahul's counsel Anshul said he would request the Patna court to spare his client from physical appearance as he was "preoccupied with political and social responsibilities".