Contempt plea: SC seeks Rahul Gandhi's explanation on Rafale comments

The Supreme Court Monday made it clear that the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi in the media on the Rafale case verdict were "incorrectly attributed" to the apex court and directed the Congress President to give his explanation by April 22.

The top court gave a categorical clarification that in its Rafale judgement there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the alleged contemptous observation that "Chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain" as has been attributed to it by Gandhi.

The apex court decided to consider the criminal contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi against Gandhi for attributing to it some observations that were not in the Rafale judgement.

It observed that politicians should not attribute any findings or views to the court in their speeches.

In the order, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said: "We have considered the matter. We make it clear that this Court had no occasion to record any view or finding or make any observation as allegedly attributed to the Court by the respondent (Gandhi) in as much as what was decided by this Court was a purely legal question of admissibility of certain documents to which objections were raised by the Attorney General."
The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said: "Having clarified the matter, we deem it proper to ask Gandhi for his explanation which will be laid before us on or before April 22."