SC issues contempt notice to Rahul Gandhi for remarks on Rafale verdict

Appearance of Gandhi not needed for now, says SC; matter to be heard along with Rafale review petition on April 30

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a contempt plea moved against him by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Meenakshi Lekhi for attributing the “Chowkidar Chor Hai” statement to the top court.

A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said the matter would be tagged with the review petition of the Rafale fighter jets and will be next heard on April 30. The personal appearance of Gandhi has been done away with for now, the apex court said.

In his affidavit on Monday, Gandhi had said he made the statement without having read the specific court order and “in Hindi in a rhetorical flourish in the heat of the moment”. The affidavit, filed on Monday, was part of the reply sought by the top court in response to a statement made by Gandhi in the aftermath of an order of the top court admitting new documents in the review petition for probe of Rafale deal.

On April 15, the apex court, while making it clear that the comments made by Gandhi had been wrongly attributed to the court, said politicians should, in their speeches, not attribute any findings or views to the court, unless it had been recorded in the order.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, said the Congress president was being candid enough in accepting that he had wrongly made the statement. As Gandhi had accepted in his affidavit that his statement was made in the “heat of the moment”, the top court should dismiss the case, Singhvi submitted.

It was actually the BJP, Singhvi said, that had over the past several months used the December 14 judgment of the top court as a clean chit for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. The Congress, he further submitted, could not move a contempt petition against the BJP leaders as they were busy in political campaigning.

On December 14 last year, the apex court had in a unanimous verdict said there was “no occasion to really doubt” the procurement process of 36 Rafale fighter jets, “even if minor deviations have occurred”.

The court is hearing a contempt petition moved by Lekhi, who has alleged that Gandhi had, after the top court’s order in the Rafale case, made a remark that the “Supreme Court in its judgement said Chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain”. Gandhi, it is alleged, had made the statement while addressing media persons in Amethi after filing his nomination papers for Lok Sabha elections.