Plea Seeking Consent To Contempt Proceedings Against Swara Bhaskar 'Misconceived': SG Declines Consent Citing AG's Decision
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Wednesday said that the tactic of approaching him seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against actress Swara Bhaskar is "misconceived" inasmuch as the same has been declined by Attorney General KK Venugopal. Accordingly, he declined to grant his consent under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act to prosecute Ms. Bhaskar for her remarks...
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Wednesday said that the tactic of approaching him seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against actress Swara Bhaskar is "misconceived" inasmuch as the same has been declined by Attorney General KK Venugopal.
Accordingly, he declined to grant his consent under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act to prosecute Ms. Bhaskar for her remarks over Supreme Court.
"The Ld. Attorney General for India, on 21.08.2020 has declined to provide his consent for the reasons stated in the reply of the Ld. Attorney General for India dated 21.08.2020…
Considering the fact that the Ld. Attorney Geenral for India has already declined to grant his consent in the present matter for the reasons detailed in the said letter dated 21.08.2020, the present request made to me is misconceived," SG wrote in his letter to Advocate Anuj Saxena.
Responding to the request made by Ms. Usha Shetty through Advocate Anuj Saxena, the AG had declined his consent initiate contempt while stating that Ms. Bhaskar's remarks were "not an attack on the institution."
Over her statements criticizing the Supreme Court's verdict in the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid Case, the AG said,
"The Statement in the first part appears to me a factual one and is a perception of a speaker. The comments refers to the Judgment of Supreme Court and is not an attack on the institution. This does not offer any comment on the Supreme Court itself or say anything that would scandalise or lower the authority of the Supreme Court."
Further, over her remarks that "we are now in a situation where our courts are not sure whether they believe in the constitution or not" the AG had said,
"The Second Statement is a vague statement not related to any particular Court and something which is so general that no one would take any serious note of this statement . I do not think that this is a case where the offence of scandalising of Court or lowering the authority of the Court would arise."
The Petitioner had submitted that Ms. Bhaskar's statements were not only a "cheap stunt of publicity" but also a deliberate attempt to turn masses to revolt against the Supreme Court.
"The alleged contemnor statements intends to incite feeling of no-confidence amongst the public with respect to the proceedings of the Hon'ble Court and integrity of the Hon'ble Judges of the Apex Court of India", states the Petition filed by Adv. Anuj Saxena, Prakash Sharma & Mahek Maheshwari on behalf of Usha Shetty.
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