BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi has requested the Supreme Court for criminal contempt action against Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his comments welcoming the top court order in the Rafale case earlier this week.
The order was seen as a setback to the government.
The BJP spokesperson accused Mr Gandhi of contempt of court and said he attributed the statement, “chowkidar chor hai (watchman is a thief)”, to the Supreme Court as saying in its order and tried to create prejudice.
Former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Meenakshi Lekhi in the court today, said that the Congress president made a remark that the “Supreme Court has said, chowkidaar chor hai” in the verdict.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will hear Ms Lekhi’s request on Monday.
On Wednesday, rejecting the centre’s argument that classified documents accessed by the media on the Rafale fighter jet deal can’t be evidence, the Supreme Court said it would examine the documents while considering petitions asking for a review of its earlier order that gave the government a clean chit.
Welcoming the court order, Rahul Gandhi had said, “The entire country is saying that chowkidar has committed theft. It is a day of celebration that the Supreme Court has talked about justice”.
Soon after his comments, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit back at Mr Gandhi and accused him of contempt of court, saying he had misquoted the top court.
Ms Sitharaman said the court order was limited to whether it should consider the documents the government said were illegally obtained by petitioners. “Rahul Gandhi has completely showed his frustration by saying what the court had not said,” Ms Sitharaman said.
