Talking to reporters, Raut said neither he nor his party had any intention of committing contempt of the top court.
During the hearing of a plea concerning the October 12 march to the Supreme Court by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Thursday that nobody could browbeat the judiciary.
“We are not sitting in ivory towers. We know what statements they are making outside and what they are saying in court. We know everything,” the top court said.
Amid claims that the CJI’s observations pertained to Rahul Gandhi, Sanjay Raut or SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the Sena (UBT) leader said the top court had not named anyone. However, Raut said he was ready to apologise if warranted.
“If the Supreme Court thinks that, as a petitioner, Sanjay Raut has made an inappropriate statement, then there is nothing wrong in apologising to the Supreme Court, which protects the Indian Constitution,” he said.
Referring to the Opposition’s petition over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the conduct of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the matter, Raut said, “I have expressed my apology, but give us justice. Give justice to 13 crore voters (whose names were deleted from voter lists).”Raut also referred to certain remarks he had made about the “delay” in the ongoing hearing linked to the name and symbol of the undivided Shiv Sena, which split in 2022 after Eknath Shinde, the current deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, led a rebellion against then party chief Uddhav Thackeray. Subsequently, the group headed by Shinde got the original name and its bow-and-arrow symbol.
“You have to understand our anguish. It’s been four and a half years. We are fighting the case about the Shiv Sena name and symbol. Four CJIs changed (during the course of hearing), and the anti-Constitutional government was installed. Give us justice. This is our only demand. If this (demand) is wrong, then I apologise to the Supreme Court,” Raut added.
