New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave an ultimatum to Congress President Rahul Gandhi to apologise for his remark on PM Modi; ‘chowkidar chor hai’ till Monday.
However, with one sword of contempt already hanging over Congress President, he overcame his unwillingness and agreed to apologise for his mistake in linking the SC order on the Rafale review petition to his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ political jibe.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi along with a bench of Justices Sanjay K Kaul and K M Joseph reprimanded Rahul for the vaguely worded 22-page affidavit he had filed in response to the contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi.
The bench reprimanded and said, “We had great difficulty in understanding what you (Gandhi) are saying. The contempt proceedings are not new. If you are not contradicting your statement then the logical view would be taken.”
The bench asked senior advocate A M Singhvi, who sought to counter the impression that Rahul deliberately misinterpreted the SC order, “You (Rahul) needed a 22-page affidavit to express complete regret? You make a statement and you try to justify? Where have we said what you have attributed to us in public speeches?”
Singhvi made amends and said Rahul, if required, will file an affidavit apologising for the mistake but argued that linking the SC order to a political jibe was unintentional as Rahul is well aware that no court would endorse a political slogan.