The BBC reports
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison in a criminal defamation case.
The Congress MP was convicted by the court in Gujarat state for 2019 comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname at an election rally.
Mr Gandhi, who was present in court for sentencing, remains out of jail on bail for 30 days and will appeal.
His party said he was being targeted for exposing the government’s “dark deeds”. Elections are due next year.
A Congress spokesman said the ruling was full of “legally unsustainable conclusions” – and vowed its politicians would not be silenced.
“Make no mistake. All your attempts to create a chilling effect, a throttling effect, a strangulating effect on open fearless speech relating to public influence will not stop either Rahul Gandhi or the Congress Party,” Abhishek Manu Singhvi told a news conference.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says due judicial process has been followed in the case, which dates back to the campaign ahead of the last election.
Speaking at a rally in Karnataka state in April 2019, Mr Gandhi had said: “Why do all these thieves have Modi as their surname? Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi.”
Nirav Modi is a fugitive Indian diamond tycoon while Lalit Modi is a former chief of the Indian Premier League who has been banned for life by the country’s cricket board. Mr Gandhi argues that he made the comment to highlight corruption and it was not directed against any community.
