The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the criminal proceedings initiated against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav before a Gujarat court over his alleged remark against ‘Gujaratis’ being the only ‘cheats’ in the country.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal further issued notice to the complainant on a petition moved by Yadav seeking transfer of the trial from Gujarat to Bihar.
Filed by Haresh Mehta, Vice-President of an organisation called the All India Anti-Corruption and Crime Preventive Council before a Magistrate court in Ahmedabad, the criminal defamation petition claimed that Yadav’s remark had caused ‘mental and physical harm’ to Gujaratis.
The plea requested the Magistrate to summon Yadav for saying that only ‘Gujaratis’ could be ‘cheats’ in today’s situation.
As per media reports, Yadav had allegedly said on March 22, “Jo do thag hai naa, jo thag hai, thagi ko jo anumati hai, aaj ke desh ke halat mein dekha jayein toh sirf Gujarati hi thag ho sakte hai aur uske thag ko maaf kiya jaayega. LIC ka paisa, bank ka paisa de do, fir vo log leke bhaag jaayenge, toh kaun jimmedar hoga? (The two cheats who are there, they give leeway to cheats. In today’s situation in the country, only Gujaratis can be cheats (thugs). Their fraud will be forgiven. Give them the money belonging to LIC and banks and they will run away with it. Who will be held responsible for this?)”