The Supreme Court
on Monday reserved its order on a plea filed by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav
seeking transfer of the criminal defamation complaint pending against him in a
Ahmedabad court over his alleged "only Gujaratis can be thugs" remark
to a place outside the state, preferably Delhi.
A bench of
Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan took on record a fresh statement of apology
filed by Yadav.
"We will
pass orders," the bench said.
The top court on
January 29 had directed Yadav to file a "proper statement" withdrawing
his alleged remark that "only Gujaratis can be thugs".
Yadav on January
19 filed an affidavit in the apex court withdrawing his alleged "Gujarati
thugs" remark.
The top court,
while hearing the RJD leader's plea, had earlier stayed the proceedings in the
criminal defamation complaint and issued notice to the Gujarat resident who had
filed it.
The complaint
against Yadav was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code
(IPC) for alleged criminal defamation.
The Gujarat court
had in August conducted a preliminary enquiry against Yadav under section 202
of the Code of Criminal Procedure and found sufficient grounds to summon him on
the complaint filed by Haresh Mehta, a local businessman and activist.
According to the
complaint, Yadav, while talking to the media in Patna in March 2023, had said,
"Only Gujaratis can be thugs in the present situation, and their fraud
will be forgiven." "Who will be responsible if they run away
with the money belonging to the LIC or banks?" the then Bihar deputy chief
minister had allegedly said.
Mehta claimed Yadav's
comments defamed all Gujaratis.