SC gives Rahul Gandhi another opportunity to explain 'chowkidar' remark

Top court says Congress leader's earlier affidavit is hard to understand.

The Supreme Court gave Tuesday Congress president Rahul another opportunity Gandhi to file one more affidavit relating to his alleged contemptuous "chowkidar chor hai" remark.

Gandhi's lawyer admitted his client had made a mistake by wrongly attributing the remark to the apex court, but a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that in the affidavit filed, at one point the Congress President is admitting the mistake and at one point denying of making contemptuous remarks.

"We have great difficulty in understanding what you want to say in the affidavit," said the bench, also comprising justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.

The top court told Gandhi's counsel that it was not concerned with the political stand narrated in the affidavit. Gandhi said the use of word regret in the affidavit is like an apology for wrongly attributing the remark which was never made by the apex court.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who had filed the contempt petition against Gandhi, said it is the grossest kind of contempt.

The court posted the matter for hearing on May 6.