A judge in Gujarat sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail for criminal defamation because he said four years ago that “all thieves have the Modi surname”. India’s criminal defamation law is not supposed to work like this. Only a specific Modi who can show how his character has been defamed can file such a suit, but this did not appear to matter to the judge. “It is strange that a judge – any judge – could be unaware of a legal proposition this basic,” tweeted Gautam Bhatia, a constitutional lawyer.
Criminal cases, arrests and jail sentences over a speech, tweet, poem or poster reflect a growing paranoia and intolerance of expressiion
24/03/2023