A day after Rahul Gandhi was sentenced in a 2019 criminal defamation case, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday said legal processes are used far too often for political ends and both the process and the outcome are "bizarre".

A court in Surat on Thursday sentenced Gandhi to two years in the case filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks. The court also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

Reacting to the development, Sibal said, "Rahul Gandhi, sentenced for 2 years for defamation. Legal processes are used far too often for political ends! Both the process and the outcome is bizarre." Sibal, who had been a Union minister during the UPA I and II, had quit the Congress in May last year and was elected to Rajya Sabha as an independent with the support of the Samajwadi Party.

Several Opposition leaders have rallied behind Gandhi and hit out at the government and accused the BJP of targeting political opponents.

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