A sessions court in Gujarat's Surat city on Monday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he filed an appeal against his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his 2019 "Modi surname" remark in which he has been sentenced to two years in jail, a lawyer said.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera said it will hear his plea for suspension of conviction on April 13 after issuing a notice to complainant Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat cabinet minister.

The sessions court asked the respondent (Purnesh Modi) to file his reply by April 10.

"We had filed an application for Rahul Gandhi's bail and suspension of sentence along with his appeal against conviction by a lower court. The (sessions) court heard the matter and granted him bail. The court kept the matter for hearing on the stay of his conviction for April 13," a member of his legal team told reporters.

Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Surat earlier in the day, will not be required to appear in the court during the hearing of the case, he said.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other party leaders were present in the courtroom when the matter came up for hearing at around 3 pm.

Rahul Gandhi reached the sessions court premises in a luxury bus along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and several other party leaders were present in Surat.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi flew to Gujarat to challenge the magistrate court order convicting him in the 2019 defamation case and sentencing him to two years in prison. He was accompanied by his sister and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and a host of Congress leaders.

Senior Advocate RS Cheema is representing Rahul Gandhi in the sessions court.

Party sources said that the former Wayanad MP was going to request the Surat sessions court to set aside the order, which automatically disqualified him as a Member of Parliament.

The 52-year-old former Congress president's main appeal seeks the setting aside of the magistrates order. He was also scheduled to file two additional applications seeking a stay on conviction as an interim order till the main petition was disposed of and suspension of the two-year prison sentence as an interim order.

Advocate RS Cheema was expected to press for a hearing of the appeal and the two applications on Monday itself, and ask for orders

Sources said that the Congress's strategy, if successful, would get Rahul Gandhi back in Parliament where he could continue his attacks against the BJP-led union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

BJP's 'drama' barb

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged on Monday that the decision of Congress leaders to accompany Rahul Gandhi to a Surat court, where he will file an appeal against his conviction in a criminal defamation case, was a way of trying to exert "undue pressure" on the judiciary, a charge rejected by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who said it was a symbol of support and not a show of strength.

Rahul Gandhi's lawyers said the matter is likely to be taken up for hearing by the sessions court on Monday itself.

"My point is very simple -- why the Congress party is trying to put this kind of undue pressure on the judiciary? There are means and ways to deal with judicial matters. But is this the way?" Rijiju asked while talking to reporters in the Parliament House complex here.

Only for Rahul Gandhi, the Congress is staging this "drama" as it considers a family and a person above the country and its laws, he added.

Kharge said the decision taken by the party leaders to accompany Gandhi to the court was personal. "Even in a small case, family members join and go to court. Here, it is about an entire party and he (Gandhi) is fighting for the country," the Congress chief told reporters here.

He said the presence of the party leaders in Surat is not a "show of strength", but a "symbol of support" for Gandhi.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to hit back at Rijiju, saying, "The man who threatens the judiciary, judges and ex-judges daily and also distorts history daily talking. Hypocrisy ki koi seema nahin hai Modi Kaal mein (There is no limit to hypocracy in Modi's rule)." Rijiju said when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) takes action, Congress leaders want to gherao the agency's office. "When the CBI takes action, they want to gherao the CBI. When a court gives a verdict, they want to take over the court complexes. These kind of activities demean democracy and every Indian must condemn it," he told reporters.

Dubbing the Congress leaders' move to accompany the former party chief to court as "sycophancy of one family", the minister wondered whether the family was above the country.

He said Gandhi might be going to Surat to file an appeal, but it is not required of a convict to go personally to do it.

"Generally, no convict goes personally. His going personally with a motley group of leaders and aides accompanying him is only a drama. What Rahul Gandhi is doing is also a childish attempt to bring pressure on the appellate court. All courts in the country are immune from such tactics," the minister wrote on Twitter.

'Modi surname' remarks case

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma had on March 23 convicted Gandhi and sentenced him to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks.

It had held 52-year-old Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500.

The court had also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to appeal in a higher court.

Gandhi was present in the court when it had pronounced the verdict in the case.

The former Congress chief was on March 24 disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction by the Surat court in the case.

Following his disqualification, Gandhi would not be able to contest elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.

The case was filed against Gandhi on a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for the Congress leader's alleged remarks “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Gandhi, who had served as an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019 during the Lok Sabha elections campaign.

The sentence of two years invited his disqualification from the membership of Parliament under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The RP Act holds that an MP or a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) convicted for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.

Gandhi had campaigned for the Congress before the Gujarat Assembly polls held in December 2022. His party won just 17 out of the total 182 seats, its worst poll performance since the formation of the state in 1960.

In his complaint, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi had alleged that Gandhi, while addressing the poll rally in 2019, defamed the entire Modi community by purportedly saying, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Purnesh Modi was a minister in the first tenure of the Bhupendra Patel government. The ruling party legislator was re-elected from the Surat West Assembly seat in the elections held in December last year.