Rafale Case: SC Closes Contempt Plea Against Rahul Gandhi, Says 'He Should Be Careful In Future'

Rahul Gandhi, in his explanation filed in the court earlier, had said that his statement was made in the "heat of political campaigning" and there was not the "slightest intention to insinuate" anything regarding the Supreme Court proceedings in any manner.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday closed a criminal contempt plea against Congress leader Rahul Gandhu filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekh for wrongly attributing to the apex court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal case. The court said “Mr Rahul Gandhi needs to be more careful in future”. "It is unfortunate that without any verification certain remarks were made by the contemnor (Rahul Gandhi) against the prime minister," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said. The bench referred to the affidavit filed by him tendering unconditional apology and said, "Gandhi enjoys an important position in political spectrum and no court should be dragged to political discourse, whether valid or invalid". "Mr. Gandhi needs to be more careful in future," the bench added. The bench noted that subsequently the contemnor has filed an affidavit that contempt proceedings should not be taken forward. "In view of the affidavit filed by Gandhi, we close contempt proceedings initiated against him," the bench said. Gandhi had made the remarks on April 10, the day the apex court had dismissed the Centre's preliminary objections over admissibility of certain documents for supporting the review petitions against the December 14 last year verdict in the Rafale case.

Rahul Gandhi in particular should apologize to the country. Perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a fishing and roving inquiry of a court: Union Minister & BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad Watch LIVE: https://t.co/PQbT45sMtv pic.twitter.com/6SPvr1UezB

— ABP News (@ABPNews) November 14, 2019

The same bench had on May 10 reserved the judgement. Gandhi, who was then the President of the Congress Party, had told the bench that he has already tendered unconditional apology for wrongly attributing the remarks relating to the Prime Minister to the apex court. Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, had told the bench, that the Congress leader expressed regret over the wrongful attribution to the apex court. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Lekhi, had submitted that the apology tendered by Gandhi should be rejected and action must be taken against him as per the law. Rohatgi also argued that the court should ask Gandhi to make an apology to the public for his remarks. "Statement was made in the heat of political campaigning" Rahul Gandhi had on May 8 tendered unconditional apology in the apex court for wrongfully attributing to it his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in the Rafale verdict and said that he holds the top court in the "highest esteem and respect" and any attributions to it were "entirely unintentional, non-wilful and inadvertent". The three-page affidavit was filed by the then Congress president after he had drawn flak from the apex court on April 30 over his earlier affidavit in which he had not directly admitted his mistake for incorrectly attributing the allegedly contemptuous remark to the top court. Lekhi filed the contempt plea against Gandhi for the "chowkidar chor hai" remarks against Modi, which the top court had said were incorrectly attributed to it. The apex court on April 15 had given a categorical clarification that in its Rafale verdict there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the contemptuous observation that "chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain" as has been attributed to it by Gandhi. Gandhi, in his explanation filed in the court earlier, had said that his statement was made in the "heat of political campaigning" and there was not the "slightest intention to insinuate" anything regarding the Supreme Court proceedings in any manner. He had said that his April 10 statement was made in purely political context to counter the "misinformation campaign" being led by senior BJP functionaries as well as the government that the apex court verdict of December 14 last year was a "clean chit" to the Centre regarding all the aspects of the Rafale deal. (With additional information from PTI)