New Delhi: On Thursday, the Congress party called the Surat court's defamation judgement of Rahul Gandhi a "infirm, erroneous, and unsustainable sentence" and promised to appeal the decision as soon as possible.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the party is preparing to file an appeal against the Gujarat trial court's verdict, which runs to 170 pages and is still being translated.
"We find the finding to be legally untenable and riddled with mistakes. No matter how much your government tries to silence free expression on matters of public importance, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party will not go quietly into the night "In a news conference, he explained.
Singhvi said the Congress has faith in the judiciary and will seek legal recourse to the Surat court ruling and gain relief, while stressing that even if this judgement is "erroneous", in-built corrective processes exist within the judicial system and "we will absolutely invoke them".
A reception was held for Rahul Gandhi at Delhi's domestic airport as he returned from Surat. Sources say that after being welcomed at the Delhi airport, some Congress MPs and leaders went to his Tughlaq Road mansion for a meeting.
According to Singhvi, the current government is using two distinct sets of strategies to silence dissent: one inside Parliament, and another outside Parliament, which has recently had an impact there as well. According to him, the government's third tactic is to "bring fraudulent, frivolous, and vexatious cases" in order to silence dissenting opinions.
"There's no doubting the conviction, but this is a weak, wrong, and untenable assessment. We anticipate a legal challenge and are optimistic that it can be halted and ultimately overturned "congressman stated.
He is confident that the current government will act in a "unethical and principle-free" manner towards Rahul Gandhi.—Inputs from Agencies