The Supreme Court on Friday issued a contempt notice to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and journalist Nikhil Wagle for allegedly scandalous and derogatory social media posts against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant .
The bench posted the matter for hearing after two weeks. It exempted Raut and Wagle from personal presence, observing that it hopes better sense prevails. The bench called Raut and Wagle’s comments made very unfortunate. It observed that they do not understand they are being tracked. “Each one of them has come to this court and sought remedies, and the court has never been lax in hearing their pleas. The notice was issued a day after the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) sought contempt proceedings against Raut and Wagle. SCBA president and senior advocate Pradeep Kumar Rai urged the court to seek their personal presence. The bench refused. The Rules require prior consent of the Attorney General (AG) or Solicitor General.
The SCBA filed the petition through Rai under Article 129 of the Constitution and the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, and the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975.
“Issue notice as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be issued against them,” said a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Venkataramani said Wagle and Raut’s posts are prima facie scandalous and intended to lower the Supreme Court and particularly the CJI’s esteem. The SCBA on Wednesday approached AG R Venkataramani for his consent, which was granted on Thursday.
The petition said the scandalous comments were made after the CJI refused to meet Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday, citing separation of powers and sub judice matters related to the Election Commission of India and protests over alleged irregularities in the Special Investigation Review of the electoral rolls. It cited a June 19 Delhi high court order making it clear that the photograph of judges playing badminton was of an event held at Thyagaraj Stadium last year and not in London. The SCBA called Raut’s statements false.
