Gujarat High Court judge Gita Gopi on Wednesday recused herself from hearing the plea of former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has approached the High Court challenging the Surat Sessions Court’s order declining stay on the conviction in a criminal defamation case.
On Wednesday, when the criminal revision application of Mr. Gandhi was mentioned by advocate Pankaj Champaneri before Justice Gopi, she recused herself from hearing the plea without attributing any reason for her recusal.
According to Mr. Champaneri, the matter was mentioned in the court of Justice Gopi because her court deals with matters of criminal revision.
Subsequently, Mr. Champaneri mentioned the matter before the Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) A.J. Desai urging that the matter be assigned to a Bench for hearing on an urgent basis.
According to sources, Mr. Champaneri has urged the ACJ to list the matter on April 29 since the lawyers for Mr. Gandhi will come from out of the State.
As on Wednesday evening, there was no clarity about which Bench would hear the petition and when.
On Tuesday, Mr. Gandhi approached the High Court after the Surat court in its order on April 20 refused to stay the conviction of Mr. Gandhi in the criminal defamation case in which he has been sentenced to two years in jail on a plea filed by BJP legislator Purnesh Modi.
Last month, a magisterial court in Surat had convicted and sentenced Mr Gandhi to two years in jail for his 2019 remark “how come all the thieves have Modi as their common surname”.
After his sentencing, he was immediately disqualified as a Member of Lok Sabha.
