Rahul Gandhi to file appeal in Gujarat court on April 3 against conviction in defamation case
Surat (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Monday file an appeal before a court in Surat in Gujarat against his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
Gandhi is likely to remain present in the sessions court when the plea will be filed challenging the lower court's order sentencing him to two years in jail, sources said on Sunday.
"A petition challenging the lower court order will be filed in the sessions court of Surat on Monday, with Rahul Gandhi remaining present," a member of his legal team said requesting anonymity.
Senior state and national leaders of the Congress will accompany him to Surat, sources said.
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma here had on March 23 convicted Gandhi and sentenced him to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks.
It had held 52-year-old Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500.
The court had also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to appeal in a higher court.
Gandhi was on March 24 disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction by the Surat court in the criminal defamation case.
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Tirupati laddu row: Samples of Ayodhya Ram temple 'prasad' sent for testing
Ayodhya, Sep 27: The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department on Friday collected samples of 'elaichi daana' or cardamom seeds being distributed as 'prasad' at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple here and sent them for testing, officials said.
The action was taken following a complaint lodged through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), Assistant Food Commissioner Manik Chand Singh said.
Singh said the samples were procured from Haiderganj, where the cardamom seed offerings are prepared and sent to the Jhansi State Laboratory for comprehensive testing and evaluation.
Prakash Gupta, the officer in charge of the Ram Temple trust, revealed that on average, around 80,000 packets of cardamom seeds are distributed daily as a sacred offering.
Amid a row over the alleged presence of animal fat in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the chief priest of the Ram temple here on Thursday questioned the purity of ghee being sold nationwide and said 'prasad' should be prepared under the supervision of temple priests only.
