The Supreme Court today (April 15, 2019) directed Congress president Rahul Gandhi to explain a statement allegedly made by him wherein he has attributed a quote to the Supreme Court of India.

A Bench comprising of Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi and JusticesDeepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna sought his explanation after clarifying that the statement “Chowkidar chor hai” made by Gandhi on the Rafale case verdict was “incorrectly attributed” to the apex court. 

“We make it clear that views, observations, findings attributed to this court in the alleged speeches, remarks made by Mr. 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 observations in as much as deciding legal admissibility of certain documents which were objected by the attorney general,” the Bench said.

“Having clarified the matter we deem it appropriate to seek explanation of Mr. Gandhi,” the Bench added posting the matter for further hearing on April 23, 2019.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Meenakshi Lekhi on April 12, 2019, moved a criminal contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for using the phrase ‘chowkidar Chor Hai’ against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The statement was allegedly made in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent judgment concerning maintainability of the review petition filed in the Rafale case.