New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court unconditionally withdrawing his "only Gujaratis can be thugs" remark.

On Monday, a bench, headed by Justice Abhay S. Oka asked counsel appearing for complainant Haresh Mehta to seek instructions if Tejashwi Yadav’s prosecution was any longer necessary since the RJD leader withdrew his alleged defamatory remark.

In his affidavit, Tejashwi Yadav said that his remark was not intended to offend Gujarati people or was directed towards community of a particular state.

The bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, indicated that it will quash the criminal defamation suit pending before a magistrate's court in Ahmedabad in exercise of extraordinary powers conferred under Article 142 of the Constitution to do "complete justice" between the parties.

The matter will be heard next on January 29.

In November 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the trial proceedings after Tejashwi Yadav sought a transfer of criminal defamation case from Gujarat to Bihar.

The complaint goes back to Tejashwi Yadav's alleged remarks made in March last year in Patna. It has been alleged that Yadav said that "in today's time, only Gujaratis can be thugs and they will also be forgiven for the same".

The purported remarks were made by him in reference to the revocation of the red corner notice for fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, a key accused in the Punjab National Bank scam, and purportedly aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In his complaint, Mehta, a social worker and Vice President of an organisation called the All-India Anti-Corruption and Crime Preventive Council, alleged that the remarks defame and humiliate Gujaratis in public.