Recap: Brij Bhushan Gets Interim Bail, SC Lifts Stay on WFI Elections

What else happened in our courts today?

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Wrestlers’ Case: Brij Bhushan Singh and Vinod Tomar Get Interim Bail

Outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Federation's assistant secretary Vinod Tomar were granted interim bail.

“We have not arrested him. We leave it to my lord. Condition must be there... I oppose it with the condition that he shouldn't influence witnesses,” the prosecution submitted earlier, according to LiveLaw.

The court will now hear Singh's regular bail plea on Thursday.

After Gauhati HC's Back & Forth, SC Lifts Stay on Wrestling Federation Elections

The Supreme Court removed the stay that was recently imposed by the Gauhati High Court on the elections to the executive committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

The original election date: The WFI elections were originally scheduled to take place on 11 July to form a new Executive Council of the federation following the exit of BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has had six women wrestlers file complaints of sexual harassment against him. 

Yes, but: the Gauhati High Court, in a special Sunday hearing on 25 June, had put an interim stay on the election following the Assam Wrestling Association (AWA) petition regarding their right to be a voting member of the WFI.

For more, read this.

TN Minister Senthil Balaji Moves SC Against Madras HC Ruling

Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji has moved the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court ruling that the Enforcement Directorate has the authority to detain him in relation to the cash-for-jobs scandal.

The Madras High Court had last week opposed the release of V Senthil Balaji, a leader from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and said that the Enforcement Directorate was entitled to seek his custody  in a case related to money laundering.

Justice CV Karthikeyan delivered the ruling in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji's wife, seeking his release. Earlier, two judges of the High Court had been unable to reach a consensus on the matter.

Justice Karthikeyan concurred with Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy's previous opinion and determined that the ED was justified in seeking custody of Balaji.

'Modi Surname' Case: SC To Hear Rahul Gandhi's Plea on 21 July

The Supreme Court has scheduled for 21 July, the hearing of a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against the Gujarat High Court order refusing to stay his conviction in the 2019 Modi surname case.

Previously: A Sessions Court in Surat on 20 April had rejected Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction.

How this started: A Surat Magistrate court on 23 March, had convicted Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail for his comment that allegedly said "all people with Modi surname are thieves" that he made during an election rally in Kolar in April 2019.

Calcutta HC Refuses To Initiate Suo Motu Contempt Against Abhishek Banerjee

The Calcutta High Court refused to take suo motu cognisance of allegedly inflammatory comments made by All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MP Abhishek Banerjee against the judiciary.


A bench comprising Chief Justice of the High Court TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya advised Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who had urgently raised the matter, to approach the larger bench already hearing a contempt case related to protests and the circulation of defamatory posters targeting Justice Rajasekhar Mantha.

Bhattacharya urged the court to initiate immediate suo moto contempt proceedings to protect the court's dignity, claiming that it was being "dragged in dirt." Senior counsel Sakya Sen supported Bhattacharya's arguments, emphasising that Banerjee had previously been cautioned by a division bench against making derogatory remarks about the judiciary. The court noted that Banerjee was aware of the consequences of his actions and had challenged the court to take contempt action against him.