Guwahati: Congress President Rahul Gandhi today extended an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court for attributing his 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe to the court after its Rafale Judgement.
Rahul Gandhi has filed a fresh affidavit to the Supreme Court with an unconditional apology in a contempt of court case against him. The affidavit states, "Unconditional apology to the Supreme Court for unintentionally and inadvertently linking the court order in Rafale review plea to his chowkidar chor hai jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
The Congress President has said that he holds the Supreme Court in the highest esteem and has sought closure of contempt proceedings against him.
The affidavit further reads as, "Deponent unconditionally apologizes for the wrongful attributions to this top court. It further states that any such attributions were entirely unintentional, non-willful and inadvertent."
The Congress President had filed an affidavit earlier saying that he regrets making the said comments against the apex court. However, a bench of the top court led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked for his complete apology for misquoting the court.
On behalf of Rahul Gandhi, his counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on his previous hearing that he expressed regret which is the same as an apology and that there cannot be any doubt on his statement.
The top court is hearing the contempt of court case based on a petition filed by the BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi.
Earlier on April 29, the Congress President asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the contempt petition filed against him by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi insisting that it was the BJP lawmaker who was trying to drag the court into a political controversy for personal gains and political mileage.
Gandhi also said that the top court should also make BJP spokesperson Lekhi to pay up for abusing the judicial process by filing the contempt petition against him for his campaign remarks.
The Congress President has filed an affidavit last week to explain his first reaction to the April 10 court ruling on use of leaked defence ministry documents for the Rafale review petition to which Gandhi had remarked saying that the court had said "Chowkidar Chor Hai" repeating a slogan that Gandhi and the Congress have used to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.