SURAT: The Surat Sessions Court will consider the plea filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case today. The sessions court had stayed the two-year jail sentence awarded to Rahul by the Surat CJM Court for his Modi surname remarks.

The proceedings were stayed till the settlement of the appeal. The court did not consider Rahul's request to cancel the offence. Rahul claimed that he had not defamed the Modi community. Petitioner Purnesh Modi has requested to avoid the stay.

Rahul filed an appeal demanding that the Surat CJM Court's judgment be quashed and the judgment be stayed till the final decision in the appeal. If the verdict is stayed, Rahul will get his Lok Sabha membership back. BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi's statement on how all thieves got the name Modi. The Magistrate's Court had found Rahul guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. Following the verdict, the Lok Sabha Secretariat canceled Rahul Gandhi's MP post.