SC seeks Rahul, Kharge response over Oct 12 stir

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.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant asked the Centre and the private respondents named in the petition, including Gandhi and Kharge, to file their responses.Posting the matter for November 23, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant asked the Centre and the private respondents named in the petition, including Gandhi and Kharge, to file their responses.The court was hearing a petition filed by a group of lawyers led by Digant Mishra who sought guidelines regulating processions, protests, demonstrations and assemblies in the vicinity of the Supreme Court.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. Bhatia moved an application in this regard seeking the registration of an FIR against Gandhi.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. We will be filing our response.”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.Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that he will file a response to the petition by the next date. 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.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.