Rahul Gandhi apologises for attributing 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe at PM Modi to Supreme Court

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday apologised for attributing 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe at PM Modi to Supreme Court after Rafale order. Gandhi’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi expressed apology and sought time to file another affidavit on Monday.

The top court said that the Congress chief was trying to justify the comment that the court never made. It further said that he was contradicting himself in his affidavit and asked him to admit his mistake.  

“When you make a mistake, accept it. Everyone does it," the top court said pulling up Gandhi. 

During the hearing, Singhvi on behalf of Gandhi said that, “there were three errors on my part and I sincerely apologise." Singhvi on behalf of Rahul Gandhi also added that contents of affidavit aren't contradictory to each other as claimed by the counsel for petitioner. The hearing in the case have been adjourned to Monday as Singhvi took time to file a "better affidavit".

Though Gandhi, through his counsel, admitted he made a mistake by wrongly attributing the remark to the apex court, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that in the affidavit filed, at one point the Congress is admitting the mistake and at one point denying of making contemptuous remarks.

"We have great difficulty in understanding what you want to say in the affidavit," said the bench, also comprising justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.

The top court told Gandhi's counsel that it was not concerned with the political stand narrated in the affidavit.

Gandhi said the use of word regret in the affidavit is like an apology for wrongly attributing the remark which was never made by the apex court.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who had filed the contempt petition against Gandhi, said it is the grossest kind of contempt.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 6.

Gandhi, while responding on Monday to a notice issued to him by the top court on BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi's petition, once again expressed "regret" for his remarks.

The apex court on April 15 had given a categorical clarification that in its Rafale verdict there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the contemptuous observation that "chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain" as has been attributed to it by Gandhi.

Gandhi, who filed a fresh affidavit following the formal notice issued to him by the apex court on Lekhi's pleas, has used the word "regret" in bracket.

On April 22, Gandhi had filed an affidavit in response to the apex court's order asking him to give an explanation over his remarks and had said that he was expressing "regret" over it.

However, during the hearing in the matter the next day, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Lekhi, had told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that the word 'regret' was in a bracket and actually it was a "lip service of apology".

In his fresh affidavit, Gandhi reiterated what he had said in his explanation earlier that his statement was made in the "heat of political campaigning" and there was not the "slightest intention to insinuate" anything regarding the Supreme Court proceedings in any manner.

In her plea, Lekhi, the Lok Sabha MP from the New Delhi constituency, has alleged that Gandhi has attributed his personal remarks to the top court and tried to create prejudice.