Indian court denies Rahul Gandhi’s appeal to stay defamation conviction

A court in India’s western state of Gujarat on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s petition seeking a stay of conviction in a defamation case, a member of his legal team said.

Gandhi was convicted last month in a case brought by a state lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after comments the Congress party leader made in a 2019 speech were deemed to be insulting to the prime minister and other people surnamed Modi.