Attorney General (A-G) KK Venugopal on Thursday, 14 September, granted sanction to initiate a criminal contempt of court case against media-personality Ajeet Bharti in connection with a YouTube Video containing purportedly derogatory words against the Supreme Court of India.
The Attorney General, in his letter granting permission, wrote:
"I find that the contents of the video, which have been watched by 1.7 lakh viewers are vituperative, gross and highly derogatory to the Supreme Court of India and judiciary as a whole.”Attorney General KK Venugopal
He further said that there can be “no doubt” that the statements made by Bharti would lower the authority of the court in the eyes of public and cause obstruction to administration of justice.
The A-G’s consent came in response to a letter sent by lawyer Kritika Singh seeking the same.
MORE DETAILS
Some of the comments made by Ajeet Bharti in his video, as per the lawyer’s letter to Venugopal, were:
"The Hon’ble Court harasses those criticising it “at it’s f*cking will* using the web of collegium and contempt proceedings."
"The Supreme Court judges are 'blackmailed' to hear a terrorist’s plea of human rights at midnight while relevant issues don’t even get the importance due to them."
“How can we forgive the sinners (judges of the Supreme Court) who get blackmailed at the hands of advocates?”
“The Supreme Court was shown its real place by Prashant Bhushan, all at the expense of a fine of Rs 1'…' this looked like the entire judicial system was his mistress. He kept asking her to dance for his pleasures and she kept obliging.”
FULL TEXT OF A-G'S RESPONSE
Read full text of Attorney General (A-G) KK Venugopal’s response here:
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)