Election Watch: SC gets an ‘unconditional apology’ from Rahul Gandhi

The move came after the SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi rejected Gandhi's previous affidavit in which he had expressed 'regret'

New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi tendered an "unconditional apology" to the Supreme Court on Wednesday for attributing 'Chowkidar chor hai' jibe to the apex court. "The Deponent unconditionally apologises for the wrongful attributions to this Hon'ble Court. The Deponent further states that any such attributions were entirely unintentional, non-willful and inadvertent," Gandhi said in the affidavit.

By apologising, Gandhi saved himself from facing contempt proceedings

The move came after the SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi rejected Gandhi's previous affidavit in which he had expressed 'regret.' The court also came down heavily on Gandhi for making contradictory statements. To save himself from contempt proceedings, Gandhi had no other option but to apologise.

In the affidavit, Gandhi requested the SC to accept his apology and drop the contempt charges against him. "The Deponent most respectfully prays that this Hon'ble Court may be graciously pleased to accept the instant affidavit and close the present contempt proceedings," maintained his affidavit.

The previous affidavit

The last affidavit furnished by Gandhi had left the court upset. The bench told senior advocate AM Singhvi: "Any person can make a mistake, but having made it, you should go ahead and admit it…and what is this regret written inside the brackets? You are also contradicting yourself in this affidavit…honestly, we don't understand what your 28-page affidavit is trying to convey. Does it take 28 pages to apologise?"

At the time, Singhvi had sought some time to file a 'better' affidavit.