The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued non bailable arrest warrant against Sahara Chief Subrata Roy for his failure to appear before it in connection with the case in which his two companies have been directed to refund Rs. 20,000 crore to investors.

“We had already declined yesterday Roy’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance. He has not appeared even today and we are issuing non bailable warrant returnable for March 4,” a bench comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said.

At the outset when senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Roy, informed the court that he has been unable to appear because of the ill health of his 95-year-old mother, the bench shot back “the arms of this court are very long. Only we had refused your plea for exemption from personal appearance. We will issue the non bailable warrant. This is the Supreme Court of the land.”

“Yesterday we told you that we are not inclined to exempt him from personal appearance. If other directors can appear, why can’t you?,” the bench said.

The court had on February 20 come down heavily on the Sahara group for not refunding Rs. 20,000 crore of investors money despite its order and summoned Roy, Ravi Shankar Dubey, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Vandana Bhargava, directors of its firms–Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIREC) and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHIC) to be personally present before it.

Jethmalani sought to explain Roy’s non-appearance by saying that he was sitting on the bed side of his ailing mother and holding her hand.

He also placed before the bench the medical certificate on Roy’s mother’s ill health and said on all earlier occasions, the Sahara Chief had complied with the apex court’s order.

However, the bench said, “for last two years we have been seeing what’s happening in the matter”.

The apex court had yesterday rejected Roy’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance and had asked him to be present before it today.

The bench had made it clear that “rule of law” has to be maintained and Roy has to comply with its February 20 order in which he along with three directors of his companies have been summoned to appear.

During the hearing earlier, the bench had observed that SEBI could go ahead with the sale of properties of the group whose sale deeds were handed over to the market regulator to recover Rs 20,000 crore.

“Those properties you can sell. We allow you to sell them and recover the money. If they are encumbered properties then you can file criminal case against the company. The case must be brought to a logical conclusion,” the bench had said.

The bench had raised question on the way the group has been defying its order for the last one-and-a-half years.

The bench had said SEBI can put those properties on auction and get the money after the market regulator had said that let the company itself sell the properties and deposit the money.

The apex court in its judgement of August 31, 2012 had directed SEBI to attach properties and recover the money.

Sending a clear message that the court is not “helpless” in taking action for flouting its directions, the apex court had on November 21 last year barred Roy from leaving the country and also restrained the group from selling any of its properties.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday dismissed criticism of his remarks calling Narendra Modi “impotent”, saying the BJP had misconstrued his comments.

“If he (Modi) does not understand these words then I can send him a dictionary,” Khurshid said after the BJP reacted sharply to his remarks, saying the Union minister had lost his mental balance.

Clarifying his remarks on the BJP’s PM candidate for 2014 polls, Khurshid said, “You have another word for incapacity? For lack of strength? I talked about impotency in politics.”

“I am not his doctor; I didn’t physically examine him. I meant that he lacks strength to do what he could have done,” the Congress leader said further.

However, refusing to apologise for the choice of his words Khurshid asked: “Would I call him potent? No other word expressed my feeling better. He should accept what he did in 2002.”

Khurshid also targeted BJP chief Rajnath Singh for saying yesterday that he was ready to seek forgiveness for any mistakes committed in the past by the BJP.

“Rajnath Singh must be regretful; he is a man of character. He’s in a spot because his PM candidate isn’t accepting the blame,” Khurshid said.

“First he should accept; apologising comes later,” the minister suggested, adding “he is offering to apologise to Muslims. Why? He should apologise to the nation.”.

Reacting to Khurshid’s remarks yesterday, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain had tweeted this morning, “Filthy words used 4 political opponent, seems foreign education has taken away Indian values of ‘Tehzeeb’ & ‘Tameez’ frm Sh Salman Khurshid (sic).”

“Is the language used by Sh Salman Khurshid a reflection of the so called guidance being given to Congress leaders by Sh Rahul Gandhi? (sic)”

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he would rather make women travelling in a bus safe than have India being a superpower.

“Big statements are made about India being a superpower. What superpower? I will rather make a woman safe in a bus than (India) being a superpower,” Gandhi said in an interaction with students at the Don Bosco University here.

“Are you comfortable in a bus? Are you treated well on the streets when you walk?” he asked girl students.

“It is complete nonsense. There is no way this country can be a superpower if Kakoli (a student who asked him a question on respecting women) is feeling scared to go in a bus. How can we call ourselves a superpower if a young girl of this country is scared to go in a bus?” he asked.

“Fifty per cent of the country are women and if you are to ask any of them whether they feel comfortable in a bus, whether they can walk around comfortably, whether India treats them comfortably … Every single one will say no, they do not feel safe and are not represented in our political system,” the Congress leader said.

“And I think boys should think about this. It is at the end of the day that boys who treat women badly. This is a message to them … These women are 50 per cent of the country, these are mothers and sisters,” Gandhi said.

“Women go every day in a bus, go for an interview and are treated badly. When you go for an interview, I am sorry to say, but if you are a woman you can expect to be discriminated. You can also expect discrimination when you are working. Why don’t we talk about that?” Gandhi asked.

“In my mind I have 45 years of experience that women are at least smarter than men. They are more intelligent than men, more capable than men. Yet we spend our whole time in this country every day disrespecting them and we talk about super power,” the Congress leader said.

“Sorry to be angry, but I am emotional about this because I have been brought up in a family where women are treated well, they are powerful,” he said.

“My father (Rajiv Gandhi) treated my sister exactly as me. My grandmother (Indira Gandhi) was the boss of the family. My father listened to my grandmother. So that is the family where I come from,” he said.

“People focus when there is a rape case. The entire country gets up and focuses on the rape case. That is very important because these type of crimes should be punished. But what we don’t focus on is the everyday problem women face,” Gandhi said.

“How many women do you see in Parliament, in Vidhan Sabhas, business? So it’s not only about rape. Rape is the extreme manifestation. It is the suffering of the women every single day,” he said.

Skirting questions about a reported tie-up with the BJP for the national election, Bihar politician Ram Vilas Paswan said he was keeping his options open and was “forced to consider the alternative” due to a deadlock with the Congress and Lalu Prasad.

“Opinion in the Lok Janshakti Party is not against going with the BJP. Our options are open. In our party’s interest we need to take tough decisions,” said Mr. Paswan amid reports that he was inclined to revive his alliance with the BJP 12 years after he snapped ties with the party over the 2002 riots in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.

Mr. Paswan quit Atal Behari Vajpayee’s BJP-led regime in April 2002, criticizing Mr. Modi for the handling of the communal violence that tore through Gujarat in the aftermath of the killing of Hindu train riders in Godhra.

His possible return to the BJP-led alliance would signal that political expediency can overrule the debate over the acceptability of its prime ministerial candidate, who is seen as a polarising figure in India.

Mr. Modi’s elevation had been the cause of the BJP’s bitter break-up with its 17-year ally Janata Dal-United last summer.

“It is strange, but true,” said Janata Dal-United leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “You have to ask Ram Vilas Paswan on this change of mind on communal forces.”

Reports of a meeting between Mr. Paswan’s film actor-turned-politician son, Chirag and BJP president Rajnath Singh last week had fueled speculation about a possible realignment in Bihar.

Just last month, Mr. Paswan had announced that his party, along with the RJD and the Congress, will contest the next Lok Sabha elections jointly in Bihar. But Lalu Prasad’s RJD has since battled a split in the ranks and is seen as a losing bet.

Reports suggest that Mr. Paswan had asked for 12 of Bihar’s 40 seats, some of them for his relatives, but the BJP has offered only seven. The LJP leader commands the fierce loyalty of at least four per cent of Bihar’s electorate.