English हिन्दी
Connect with us

India News

Supreme Court asks Rahul Gandhi to explain his comment on Rafale deal verdict

Published

on

Supreme Court asks Rahul Gandhi to explain his comment on Rafale deal verdict

The Supreme Court today (Monday, April 15) issued to notice Congress president Rahul Gandhi asking him to explain by April 22 his remarks attributing the phrase ‘chowkidar chor hai’ to the apex court judgment in the Rafale case.

The court will hear the case on April 23.

The order came on a criminal contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi against Mr. Gandhi.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for Lekhi, said Gandhi deliberately misinterpreted the recent judgment of the Supreme Court in the Rafale case, dismissing certain preliminary objections raised by the government. Gandhi purposefully gave a coloured interpretation to the judgment in order to personally attack Modi.

Rohatgi said the Congress president was widely quoted on national television and in newspapers.

Lekhi, In her plea, said Gandhi had attributed his personal remarks to the top court and tried to create prejudice.

The top court said it will consider the petition filed by Meenakshi Lekhi seeking contempt action against Gandhi for attributing some observations to the apex court which was not in the Rafale judgement.

“We make it clear that views, observations, findings attributed to this court in the alleged speeches, remarks made by Gandhi to media/public have been incorrectly attributed to this court. We also make it clear that this court had no occasion to make such observation in as much as it was deciding legal admissibility of certain documents which were objected by the Attorney General,” said the SC Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

The Bench said, “Having clarified the matter we deem it appropriate to seek explanation of Gandhi.”

In response to the Supreme Court hearing on Rafale last week, Gandhi had on April 10 claimed that the apex court has made it “clear” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “committed a theft”.

He had made the statement while interacting with reporters in Amethi after filing his nomination papers where he is contesting against BJP leader and union minister Smriti Irani.

“I am happy and I have been saying so for months that Hindustan’s PM has given the air force money to (industrialist) Anil Ambani, and the SC has accepted it. The SC is going to investigate it,” Gandhi had said.

“I want to thank the SC. It’s a very happy day. The SC has talked about justice. Justice has prevailed,” he had added.

On April 10, a Bench led by Chief Justice Gogoi had declared the court’s unanimous support for freedom of Press in a democracy. The Supreme Court had refused the government’s plea to keep the Rafale jets’ purchase documents a secret and dismissed preliminary objections raised by the government against petitions seeking a review of the December 14, 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court, which upheld the 36 Rafale jets’ deal.

The government had claimed that the reviews were based on secret Rafale documents unauthorisedly removed from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and leaked to the media. Attorney General KK Venugopal, had argued that “stolen” documents came under the protection of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and were not admissible in evidence in a court of law. Claiming privilege, the government had wanted the court to ignore the documents, even if they were found to be germane to the Rafale case, and dismiss the review petitions at a preliminary stage.

The apex court however rubbished the government’s claim of privilege. It said neither OSA nor any other law empowers the government to stop the media from publishing the documents nor the court from examining them. Besides, Chief Justice Gogoi said claiming privilege over the Rafale documents was an “exercise in utter futility”.

Welcoming this move, Gandhi had said, “Bahut khushi ho rahi hai ki jo main mahino se keh raha hun ki Hindustan ke Pradhan Mantri ne Air Force ka paisa chori karke Anil Ambani ji ko diya hai, us baat ko aj SC ne maan liya hai, (I am happy that what I have been saying for months that India’s Prime Minister stole money from the Air Force and gave it to Anil Ambani, Supreme Court has validated that point today).” He also dared the prime minister for an open debate. Soon after, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused Gandhi of making comments that verge on contempt of court’s order.

Rahul while speaking to the media in Amethi had said, “The Supreme Court has made it clear that ‘chowkidar’ allowed “theft and that it had accepted that some sort of corruption had taken place in the Rafale deal.”

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Sunita Kejriwal holds maiden Lok Sabha election roadshow in Delhi

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.

Published

on

Aam Aadmi Party began its campaign for 3rd phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday with Sunita Kejriwal, wife of jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding a roadshow in Delhi. In a massive rally, Sunita Kejriwal was be seen standing on a vehicle holding her hands and greeting the people of the area. AAP’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar was seen sitting on the vehicle as he showcased a portrait of Rani Laxmibai.

Earlier ahead of Sunita Kejrieal’s roadshow, Kuldeep Kumar told the media that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who worked to provide the best school, and free- electricity to the people of Delhi has been framed in a fake case by BJP. Kumar further added that from today onwards Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow will start and she is going to seek support and blessings from the Delhi people to continue its fight against the BJP government.

Aam Aadmi Party workers also staged a protest under the banner of Jail ka jawab vote se near Delhi’s Lakshmi Nagar area on Saturday against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in connection with an excise policy case.

After the Delhi CM’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case in March, Sunita Kejriwal has taken up a more prominent role in campaigning activities for the Aam Aadmi Party. Since the Delhi CM’s arrest, Atishi and other AAP leaders have alleged that the arrest was made so that to the AAP Supremo can be prevented from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to judicial custody until May 7.

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. She is emerging as a star campaigner for Aam Aadmi Party.

Continue Reading

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Mallikarjun Kharge says candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies Mallikarjun Kharge said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

Published

on

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days. He was addressing a press conference where he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are put on the lap and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies he said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

On being questioned about Congress leaders changing constituencies Kharge asked how many times have Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani changed their seats. His response came when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala’s Wayanad instead of Amethi. Referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge said the Congress is not affected by people who grew up in the party and left it later.

The Congress president launched an all round attack on the BJP and PM Modi and said the prime minister did not implement even one of his electoral promises and still says Modi did a lot of work for the country. Addressing the press conference he said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent. He said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. The Congress President said the BJP speaks so much about patriotism and that the contribution of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri is nothing before them.

Continue Reading

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation

Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Published

on

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.

Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?

Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.

She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.

Continue Reading

Trending

-->

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com