Live: SC has opened a huge door into probe of Rafale scam, tweets Rahul Gandhi

All eyes are on the Supreme Court, which is set to pronounce crucial verdicts in three cases - review petitions in women's entry in Sabarimala temple, Rafale deal, and contempt of court plea filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi - on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered its verdict in three crucial cases--  review petitions challenging entry of women of all age groups in the Sabarimala temple, Rafale deal and the contempt of court plea filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi 

The five-judge bench in Supreme Court referred the review petitions filed against its September 28, 2018, verdict in Sabarimala case to a larger seven-judge SC bench. The verdict had lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the menstruating age of 10 and 50 from entering the Ayyappa shrine in Kerala and termed the centuries-old religious practice as illegal and unconstitutional in September 2018. As many as 65 petitions were filed against the September 28, 2018, verdict that ended the ban seeking review of SC's verdict. 

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday dismissed the review petitions filed against its December 14, 2018, judgment by which the Narendra Modi-led government was given a clean chit in the procurement of Rafale fighter jets, after finding it without any merit. While delivering the SC verdict, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, "We do not consider the submissions for the registration of FIR to be fair."

The December verdict had declined a CBI investigation into the corruption allegations in the purchase of 36 jets from France’s Dassault Aviation at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore. The review pleas were filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan and former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, among others, in December. Later, the apex court reserved verdict on a batch of petitions seeking review of its December 14 judgment. The court had reserved its verdict on May 10.

In a big relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the SC on Thursday accepted the apology filed by Gandhi in the contempt of plea case filed against him by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi. While delivering the verdict, the SC bench said, " Rahil Gandhi should not have made political comments without reading the full order. In light of the affidavits, Mr Gandhi needs to be more careful in future. We do not want to continue proceedings any further."

The plea was filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi for wrongly attributing to the Supreme Court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in the Rafale case against PM Modi.

Here are the live updates of the Supreme Court's ruling in three crucial cases:-

14 November 2019

16:36 IST

Justice Joseph of the Supreme Court has opened a huge door into investigation of the RAFALE scam. An investigation must now begin in full earnest. A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) must also be set up to probe this scam: Rahul Gandhi

Justice Joseph of the Supreme Court has opened a huge door into investigation of the RAFALE scam.

An investigation must now begin in full earnest. A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) must also be set up to probe this scam. #BJPLiesOnRafale pic.twitter.com/JsqZ53kZFP

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 14, 2019

16:05 IST

Retired Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said that Rafale cost negotiation committee was headed by Deputy chief of Indian Air Force and everything was done correctly. He added that ultimately security forces are sufferer in such controversies.