The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to submit their responses to a petition which questioned their role in the October 12 march to the top court that led to a huge gathering inside the court complex and allegedly caused injuries a woman journalist covering the event.
The petition had also named Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav along with the Commissioner of Police, Centre, the Supreme Court registry, and the Indian National Congress as respondents.
Bhatia moved an application in this regard seeking the registration of an FIR against Gandhi. We will be filing our response.” The petition argued by senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia said that Opposition leaders led by Rahul Gandhi led a march on October 12 till inside the Supreme Court and this led to a huge gathering of lawyers and their supporters inside the court precincts, creating a security scare.
Bhatia said that a woman journalist who was three months pregnant was pushed by Gandhi and she was injured as a result of which she had to be hospitalized.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Gandhi and Kharge and told the court that he will be filing a response. Singhvi said, “I only request that irresponsible statements should not be made before the court takes up the matter.
He urged the court to hear the matter along with a petition filed by the Network of Women in Media highlighting instances of alleged sexual harassment suffered by women journalists covering the protests in the Capital.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that he will file a response to the petition by the next date. Bhatia said that the petition seeks a neutral framework regulating processions and demonstrations in and around the judicial complexes of the constitutional courts, an absolute prohibition of political protests inside judicial complexes, and guidelines on the decorum to be maintained by political parties and their leaders within judicial campuses.
