In a relief to Baba Ramdev — who is facing complaints from across the country over his “honeymoon” barb against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi — the Supreme Court on Friday stayed all proceedings in the matter and directed him to deposit Rs10 lakh in advance to enable the complainants to travel to Delhi.
A bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha, acting on a petition by the yoga guru, issued notice to police heads in all states where cases were registered against Ramdev. His statement angered Dalits which said Gandhi’s trip to Dalit homes was comparable to a “honeymoon” or picnic.
The Bench clarified that its order was not an opinion on the merits of the case as it asked Ramdev to deposit Rs10 lakh in advance with the Registry to enable complainants travel to apex court from different States.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi had earlier submitted for Ramdev that complaints arising out of the controversial comments could be dealt within lucknow where the first FIR was lodged against Ramdev.