Supreme Court 'cures' Rahul Gandhi's veiled 'regret' with notice

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi after he put his expression of regret in parenthesis. The Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna was hearing a contempt petition against Gandhi on Tuesday and sought his response by April 30.

Rahul had filed a 19-page explanation on how his statement was made in the heat of campaigning and that he did not remotely suggest or could imagine attributing such comments to the top court.

His comments were used (and misused) by political opponents to project that he "deliberately and intentionally" suggested that the Supreme Court had said 'Chowkidar chor hai!'. "Hence the unfortunate references (for which I express regret) to the Court order and to the political slogan", he submitted.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for petitioner Meenakshi Lekhi, said the apology within brackets indicates the absence of contrition and such a response should be rejected. "Is this how a leader of a political party should act," he retorted.

Advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Rahul, said if a notice of contempt was issued the response would have differed. "We can cure this by now issuing notice," the bench told Singhvi, It exempted Rahul's personal appearance, otherwise is a requirement.