BJP MP moves contempt plea against Congress president

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for attributing to the top court his oft-quoted statement – 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' – in the Rafale judgement of April 11.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi agreed to hear the petition on Monday, April 15.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the petition before the court seeking urgent hearing.

He said the Supreme Court was wrongly attributed to the statement by the Congress president. He tried to create prejudice by attributing his personal remarks to the Supreme Court, the counsel said.

Lekhi, who filed the petition, is the sitting BJP MP from New Delhi parliamentary constituency.

In a tweet, she declared, “Filed a criminal court of contempt against serial offender Rahul Gandhi. He attributed his own statements as court’s verdict. Misrepresenting and lowering the dignity of the SC. Vilifying the Constitutional authorities!”

After the apex court's ruling on April 11 stating that it would consider the leaked secret documents related to purchase of Rafale fighter jets from France, the Congress president had said in his rally in Amethi and interactions to the media that the Supreme Court has said – Chowkidar (referred to as Prime Minister) was a thief.

The court had then decided to examine the secret documents to reconsider its December 14, 2018 judgement that dismissed a plea for probe into the 2016 Rafale fighter jets deal. It had rejected the Union government's objections over admissibility of the fresh materials, by saying those were already in public domain.