Attorney General refuses to give consent for contempt of court proceedings case against 3 persons for criticising SC judges

New Delhi: Attorney General of India KK Venugopal has refused to give consent for initiating contempt of court proceedings against former Delhi High Court judge Justice SN Dhingra, former Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi and senior advocate K Rama Kumar for their comments criticising the Supreme Court judges over oral observations against suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma.

Venugopal said that the statements made by them are "not vituperative or abusive nor are they likely to interfere with the administration of justice by the Supreme Court of India", adding that the "reasonable criticism" of judicial proceedings "would not constitute contempt of Court".

"I find that the statements made by the three persons. who are in the realm of 'fair comment' on a hearing conducted by the Supreme Court. The statements are not vituperative or abusive nor are they likely to interfere with the administration of justice by the Supreme Court of India," the Attorney General wrote in a letter.

"It may be noted that the Supreme Court, in a large number of judgments has held that fair and reasonable criticism of judicial proceedings would not constitute contempt of Court," he added.

He said that he is not satisfied that the criticism made by the three persons is with malice or is an attempt to impair the administration of justice, or that it was a deliberate and motivated attempt to bring down the image of the judiciary.

"In these circumstances, I accordingly decline consent to initiate proceedings for criminal contempt of the Supreme Court of India," he said.

Earlier this month, a group of retired judges, bureaucrats and armed forces sent an open letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana condemning the observation made by the bench of Justices of the Supreme Court for "surpassing the Laxman Rekha" while hearing former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's case in the Supreme Court, terming the remarks as "unfortunate and unprecedented".

The letter sent to CJI Ramana was signed by 15 retired judges, 77 retired bureaucrats and 25 retired armed forces officers against Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, who heard the Nupur Sharma's case.

The Supreme Court had come down heavily on suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma stating that her outburst is responsible for an unfortunate incident in Udaipur, where a tailor was murdered.

The apex court further blamed the suspended BJP leader and said that she and "her loose tongue" has set the entire country on fire and she is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country and said she should "apologise to the whole country". (ANI)