By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Wednesday issued a notice to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on a petition seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against him for his controversial remarks allegedly justifying an extra-judicial killing.
A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Dalveer Bhandari issued the notice after a five-hour argument by counsel for various parties, including Gujarat government counsel Mukul Rohtagi and the petitioner, lyricist Javed Akhtar’s counsel Prashant Bhushan.
The bench, however, exempted Modi from personally appearing in the court in response to the notice.
The notice was issued on a couple of petitions filed by Akhtar and Rubabuddin Sheikh, brother of victim Sohrabuddin, seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Modi and a probe into his alleged complicity in Sohrabuddin’s November 2005 killing by the state police in a staged gun battle.
The petitions were filed after Modi allegedly justified the killing at an election rally in Gujarat Dec 4.