Ruling on plea against Rahul Gandhi put off

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi’s petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for linking a court order to his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ political jibe against PM Narendra Modi.
Though Rahul filed two affidavits — one expressing regret for mistakenly and unintentionally linking the SC order to his political jibe, and the other tendering unconditional apology — Lekhi’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi told the SC that “tendering of an apology belatedly after being cornered by the SC should not persuade the court to close contempt proceedings against Gandhi”.
For Rahul, senior advocate A M Singhvi said the demand for public apology was an attempt to play to the gallery as Rahul, from day one in the SC, had admitted his mistake and expressed regret while clarifying that he never intended to show any disrespect to the highest court.