New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday filed his reply in the Supreme Court on a notice issued to him after a contempt case by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi for his remarks on the Rafale verdict.
The counsel appearing for Rahul mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and said they be allowed to file a reply on the contempt notice. The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, allowed advocate Sunil Fernandes, who was appearing for Gandhi, to file the counter affidavit.
The apex court had on 23 April issued criminal contempt notice to Rahul for his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi while referring to the Rafale judgment, which the apex court said was ‘incorrectly attributed’ to it.
Responding to BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi’s contempt case on 22 April, Rahul Gandhi admitted that he remarked against Modi on Rafale deal in the ‘heat of campaigning’.
He added that he regrets for the statement where he had misquoted that Supreme Court said “Chowkidar ne chori ke hai (Supreme Court said that Chowkidar is involved in a theft).”
The Congress president replied to the case filed on 12 April at the Supreme Court by the BJP leader for requesting for initiation of contempt for attributing his statement to the top court. “Attributing to the Supreme Court for what it had never said in its order on the Rafale deal order of 10 April,” said Meenakshi Lekhi fighting Rahul Gandhi over comments against Modi.
In the plea, Lekhi stated that Rahul included his personal opinions with the apex court’s ruling, thus, creating prejudice.