The Supreme Court on Thursday closed the defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing to the court his “chowkidar chor hai” slogan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Rafale case.
A contempt plea was filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi against Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing his Rafale remarks to the apex court.
While clearing him of contempt, the top court said, “Mr Gandhi needs to be more careful in future. We do not want to continue proceedings any further”.
“The Supreme Court has made it clear that ‘chowkidarji’ (watchman) has committed a theft,” Gandhi had told reporters during a rally in Amethi.
Lekhi, then filed a criminal contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi, following which, the court said the remark was “incorrectly attributed” to it.
Following the observations, Rahul Gandhi had tendered “unconditional apology” to the Supreme Court.
Rahul Gandhi has filed a three-page affidavit stating his unconditional apology to the apex court.
In the affidavit, Gandhi stated that he had “unintentionally and inadvertently” linked its Rafale case order to his “Chowkidar chor hai” phrase against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“(Rahul Gandhi) unconditionally apologises for the wrongful attributions to this Hon’ble Court. The Deponent further states that any such attributions were entirely unintentional, non-willful and inadvertent,” the affidavit said.
Gandhi further said that “he holds the court in the highest esteem and respect” and “never sought or intended to, directly or indirectly, commit any act that interferes with the process of administration of justice.”
He also requested the top court to close the contempt proceedings against him.