Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Thursday tendered an unconditional apology for calling the Bulandshahr gang-rape incident ‘a political conspiracy’. The Supreme Court accepted the apology.
“Respondent No 2 (Azam Khan) has given an unconditional apology and has expressed his sincere and heartful remorse,” the bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy said after the senior Samajwadi Party leader filed a fresh affidavit tendering apology following objections raised by Attorney General, Mukul Rohatgi, to his earlier one.
The bench, which accepted Azam Khan’s new affidavit tendering unconditional apology, made it clear that no further arguments on behalf of Azam Khan will be entertained further in the matter.
The Supreme Court bench said at last month’s hearing that the dignity of women is ‘uncompromisable’ and told the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that the minor survivor of the gang-rape is admitted in a central school of her father’s choice. It also referred to a saying – ‘words once spoken cannot be recalled’.
The court said so after the Attorney General had objected to certain words like ‘if’ and ‘then’ used by Azam Khan in his affidavit tendering apology as per the November 17 directions of the ape court.
The brutal incident had happened on the night of July 29 when a group of highway robbers stopped the car of a Noida-based family and sexually assaulted a woman and her daughter after dragging them out of the vehicle at gun-point.
