Supreme Court Asks Tejashwi Yadav To File 'Clear & Simple' Statement On Withdrawing Remarks Against Gujaratis

The Supreme Court on Monday (January 29) granted a week time to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to file a clear statement withdrawing the “Gujarati hi thag hai ho sakta hai (only Gujaratis can be cheats)" comment made by him last year.

The Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan sought a simple and clear statement from Yadav after an objection was raised by the respondent(complainant) that the previous statement filed by Yadav in Court regarding the withdrawal of the statements was not clear.

The court orally remarked, “Whatever he has said against the particular community or a people of a particular state, that only requires withdrawal”.

“If something needs to be added please tell us…so that at your client satisfaction it can be disposed of.”, the court asked the counsel for the respondent.

The respondent's counsel contended that the Yadav remarks were meant to harm the entire Gujarati community and that his client was not satisfied with the present statement.

The court then asked Yadav's counsel to file a new statement within a week withdrawing the remarks made by him.

“We grant the time of one week to the petitioner (Yadav) to file a proper statement in terms of what transpired today in the court.”

Last week, the Court had asked the complainant Haresh Mehta if the prosecution was any longer necessary since Yadav has withdrawn his remarks about Gujaratis. The Court was considering a transfer petition filed by Yadav seeking to transfer the criminal defamation complaint filed against him over the remark from Ahmedabad to any venue outside Gujarat.