SC seeks Cong chief’s explanation
NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to explain a recent statement in which he appeared to attribute his party’s frequently used campaign slogan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chowkidar Chor Hai (the watchman is a thief), to the top court in connection with the Rafale deal case.
Seeking a reply from Gandhi by April 22 on the matter, a bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi clarified that its April 10 order in the Rafale case was “restricted only to the admissibility of fresh documents that the petitioners wanted to rely upon while arguing their review petition”. The court sought the clarification on a contempt petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who said that Gandhi in Amethi last week had “replaced his personal statement as the Supreme Court’s order and tried to create prejudice”.
She complained that “the words used and attributed by him [Gandhi] to the SC in the Rafale case had been made to appear something else”.
Hearing the contempt petition on Monday, the court said nobody “should attribute any views, observations or findings of the court in a political address to the media and in public speeches, unless such views, observations or findings are recorded by the court”. The court then directed Gandhi to explain his statement in Amethi, where he had gone to file his nomination papers for the elections. The court will hear the matter again on April 23.
In Amethi, Gandhi said that the court’s April 10 order on the Rafale review petition was a setback to the Centre.