Attorney General KK Venugopal on Friday declined to give his consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai for making a series of statements against the judiciary on Twitter.
According to Live Law, Attorney General KK Venugopal, in his letter to Supreme Court advocate Om Prakash Parihar, denied his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against controversial ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai for his tweets on the suo-motu contempt case against Prashant Bhushan and judiciary.
https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1306525443210620930?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn the letter, KK Venugopal has stated that that the tweets made by Rajdeep Sardesai are not of “so serious a nature as to undermine the majesty of the Supreme Court or lower its stature in the minds of the public”.
“The reputation of the Supreme Court as one of the greatest pillars of democracy has been built assiduously over the last 70 years. Trifling remarks and mere passing criticism though perhaps distasteful are unlikely to tarnish the image of the institution,” said Attorney General KK Venugopal while saying that he did not find any warrant for initiation of contempt proceedings.
Contempt proceedings against Rajdeep Sardesai
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking contempt proceedings against India Today employee Rajdeep Sardesai for his tweets on the suo-motu contempt case against Prashant Bhushan and judiciary. The petitioner had also sought the consent of Attorney General KK Venugopal for initiating contempt proceedings against Rajdeep Sardesai.
The plea which sought contempt action against Rajdeep Sardesai for making comments against country’s judiciary stated that Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweets showed that these were “not only a cheap stunt of publicity among people but a deliberate attempt to spread hatred in form of Anti India campaign”.
Rajdeep Sardesai had criticised the Supreme Court after the apex court had convicted controversial far-left activist Prashant Bhushan for making disrespectful remarks against the Supreme Court.
However, it was not yet clear which tweet of his has warranted petition on contempt of court proceedings. Rajdeep Sardesai had made a series of tweets after Supreme Court had found Prashant Bhushan guilty in the contempt proceedings against him.
https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1294152007175909377?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn one tweet, Rajdeep Sardesai had criticised the Supreme Court over its ruling on Prashant Bhushan case while claiming that the apex court had time to hear contempt case while habeas corpus petitions of those detained in Kashmir was pending for more than a year.
In another tweet, he had also said that the contempt of court case agains Bhushan was an embarrassment of its own making by the Supreme Court. In one more tweet, he had asked the courts on how to do their job.