The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, granted Congress president Rahul Gandhi another chance to file a fresh affidavit apologising for attributing his ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the top court.
The directions by the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi came in the wake of two affidavits filed by the Congress president through his counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, which had expressed “regret” for wrongly attributing the comment to the Supreme Court “in the heat of election campaigning”. The court made it clear to the Congress president that while it was “not concerned with your political stand, you must apologise for your (wrong) attribution.”
Advertisement
BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi had, earlier this month, sought contempt proceedings against Gandhi after the Congress president claimed at various election rallies that the Supreme Court too had endorsed his ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ broadside against the Prime Minister in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Rafale fighter jet deal.
Gandhi had made the comments after the top court bench of the Chief Justice and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph had agreed to hear review petitions challenging their verdict of December last year which had dismissed the demand for a court-monitored probe into the Rafale deal. The court had allowed the petitioners to present ‘confidential documents’ linked with the deal’s negotiations as part of the review petitions despite objections from the Union government which had claimed that these documents were privileged and hence beyond judicial scrutiny.
Advertisement
While the top court had only pronounced an order allowing the inclusion of the privileged documents as part of the review petition, the Congress president had claimed that it also endorsed his allegation against Modi.
After Lekhi moved the top court seeking contempt proceedings against Gandhi on grounds that he attributed comments to the Bench which were never made, the Congress president filed an affidavit saying he regrets the error. In a second affidavit filed last week, Gandhi reiterated his regret but did not expressly apologise to the court.
On Tuesday, as the matter came up for hearing again, Lekhi’s counsel, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the court that the two affidavits filed by Gandhi were a “complete eyewash” and that the Bench must reject them. Rohatgi claimed that both affidavits filed by Gandhi were identical and that they only express regret instead of an unconditional apology which is the “grossest form of contempt”.
When the Chief Justice quizzed Rohatgi on “what is the meaning of regret” and asked him whether, as counsel for the petitioner, he should have in fact urged the bench to accept the purportedly flawed affidavit and proceed against the Congress president, Singhvi, appearing for Rahul, said, “I have checked the dictionary… regret means apology”.
Singhvi then argued that there were “no discrepancies in the affidavit” but that there were three errors and he should be given a chance to rectify them. He added that the Congress president’s intention was “never to suggest that the SC endorsed, adopted or supported the political slogan 'Chowkidar Chor Hai'”
Advertisement
Justice Kaul then told Singhvi that “everyone makes mistakes, but once made, it should be admitted.” Singhvi then said that he “sincerely apologises” on behalf of his client and wants to file a “better affidavit” to rectify the error made in the earlier affidavits.
The Bench granted Singhvi’s request and adjourned the hearing in the case till May 6 by when he will have to file the fresh affidavit expressing apology for the wrong attribution to the Supreme Court by the Congress president.
