A court in Gujarat's Surat city, on Thursday, convicted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case against him over his alleged Modi surname remark. He has been sentenced to 2 years in jail by the court.

Rahul Gandhi has been convicted under IPC Section 504. The maximum possible punishment under this section is two years.

The case was filed against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remark on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.

The complainant claimed that the controversial remark was made at a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which defamed the entire Modi community.

The Congress on Thursday put up posters backing Rahul Gandhi. The posters were put up outside the Surat Court where the Congress MP arrived for the court proceedings. The posters said “let's go to Surat in support of democracy” along with pictures of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev.