Gujarat HC judge recuses herself from hearing Rahul Gandhi's case

AHMEDABAD: Justice Gita Gopi of the Gujarat high court on Wednesday recused herself from hearing an application filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay on conviction recorded last month by a Surat magisterial court in connection with the Modi surname case.
When Gandhi’s lawyer Champaneri stood up to address the court in the post-lunch session, Justice Gopi said, “Not before this court.”
The judges are not supposed to give reasons for their recusal from hearing any matter.
After Justice Gopi’s recusal from the matter, Gandhi’s case would be placed before the Acting Chief Justice A J Desai, who will assign it to another bench.
Before the judge refrained from hearing the case, advocate Champaneri in the morning requested her to permit him to circulate the case. The state government objected to this demand for early registration and circulation of the matter.
An assistant public prosecutor, Maithili Mehta, submitted, “As such I cannot object to the circulation, but the learned public prosecutor will be appearing in this matter.”
Gandhi’s lawyer told the court that the state government is merely a formal party because the matter is an outcome of a private complaint. The government lawyer asserted, “But we have serious objection in this matter.”
Justice Gopi brushed aside the state government’s objection to early hearing to Gandhi’s application, and the case was placed before the judge in the post-lunch session only to witness the recusal.
Gandhi has approached the high court after a sessions court in Surat rejected his request on April 20 to stay the conviction. The stay on conviction may reinstate Gandhi into the Lok Sabha, as his membership of the Parliament as representative from Wayanad constituency in Kerala was suspended immediately after the magisterial court convicted him to two years in jail in the defamation case last month.
BJP leader and former Gujarat minister, Purnesh Modi, had filed a criminal defamation case in Surat against Rahul Gandhi taking exception to the comment that he reportedly made during a rally at Kollar in Karnataka in April 2011.
Gandhi reportedly took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and after calling names of Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, he reportedly said, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” The complainant alleged that this was an insult to the entire Modi community.
Watch Modi surname case: Gujarat High Court judge opts out of hearing Rahul Gandhi's appeal