Rahul Gandhi will appeal against jail sentence: Congress

India's main opposition Congress today said former party chief Rahul Gandhi will file an appeal against a Gujarat magistrate court ruling which found him guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case and sentenced him to two years in prison.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh told the media in New Delhi that Rahul Gandhi would exercise his right to appeal against the trial court order.

Ramesh alleged Rahul was being "punished" for raising his voice for the truth, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi sentenced to 2 years in prison over 2019 Modi remark

Congress also termed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi as an "infirm, erroneous and unsustainable ruling that will be immediately challenged in a higher court.

Congress spokesperson and eminent lawyer Abhishek Singhvi said the Gujarat trial court has given a 170-page judgement which is still subject to translation and the party is working towards filing an appeal against it in a higher court.

"We believe that this is full of errors and legally unsustainable. But make no mistake generally...all your (government's) efforts to create a chilling effect, a throttling effect, strangulating effect on open, fearless speech relating to public interest will not stop either Rahul Gandhi or the Congress party," he told reporters in New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, a court in Surat sentenced Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in the case, filed based on a complaint by BJP lawmaker Purnesh Modi for Rahul's alleged remark "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?"

The court also granted Rahul Gandhi bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court, his lawyer Babu Mangukiya said.

Several Congress leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, spoke out against the matter.

"A scared machinery of power is trying to suppress the voice of Rahul Gandhi through 'saam, daam, dand, bhed' (every trick in the book)," Priyanka Gandhi said in Hindi on Twitter.

"My brother has never been afraid, nor will he ever be. He has lived is life speaking the truth, will continue to speak the truth. Will continue to raise the voice of the people of the country," she said.