SC reserves judgment on contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its judgment on the contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for attributing his 'Chowkidar chor hai' comment to the apex court.

Gandhi on Wednesday tendered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court for wrongly attributing his "chowkidar chor hai" remark to the apex court and sought closure of the contempt proceedings against him.

In a three-page affidavit, Gandhi said he holds the court in "highest esteem and respect" and "has never sought or intended to, directly or indirectly, commit any act that interferes with the process of administration of justice".

The Congress chief pleaded that the court may "accept the instant affidavit and close the present contempt proceedings".

On April 30, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was categorical that Gandhi had to either offer a clear-cut apology or face criminal contempt for attributing the remark "chowkidar chor hai", targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to the court's April 10 Rafale case order.

The bench also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, had made the observation while taking objection to the Congress president's first affidavit in which he expressed "regret".

The contempt petition filed by Lekhi accused Gandhi of misquoting the order when he said the apex court had accepted that 'chowkidar' (a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi), is a "chor' (thief).

"Rahul Gandhi has misquoted the Supreme Court order and he made the remarks to influence voters during the Lok Sabha elections," Lekhi had said.

Gandhi, while speaking to the media in Amethi, had said, "The Supreme Court has made it clear that "chowkidar" allowed "theft and that it had accepted that some sort of corruption had taken place in the Rafale deal".