"Will Not Revisit The Merits" : Supreme Court Expresses Unwillingness To Grant More Time To Trio Convicted For 'Scurrilous& Scandalous' Remarks Against Judges

Supreme Court has on Thursday expressed its unwillingness to extend the time for surrender, to Vijay Kurle,Nilesh Ojha and Rashid Pathan, the trio convicted for contempt for 'scurrilous& scandalous' allegations against Justices Nariman & Vineet Saran over their order sentencing Adv Mathews Nedumpara guilty of contempt.The Court will hear the matter today , along with the three independent writ petitions filed by the three contemners regards their conviction, pending before the Top Court.While noting that the time given to these persons to surrender is to expire tomorrow, a Bench led by Justice UU Lalit directed the Registry to list the present matter along with three writ petitions filed by contemnors before the appropriate Bench tomorrow.The Bench while initially being inclined to dismiss the pleas and direct the three petitioners to surrender, later agreed to adjourn the hearing to tomorrow taking note of submissions made by AdvocatePartho Sarkar appearing for concerned parties that three writ petitions preferred by Vijay Kurle, Nilesh Ojha and Rashid Khan are pending before the Top Court and may have some bearing on instant matter."In case litigating factors are taken into consideration, the prestige of this Court and regards for Court will go up notches if this Bench grants some time or writ petitions pending before the Court are heard. No one is running anywhere. There are 3 different independent petitions." Mr Sarkar submitted before the Court"Whatever you want to place keep those documents ready tomorrow." the Bench orally asked the petitionersDuring the hearing, the Bench asked the petitioners as to when the period of extension granted to them to surrender through the last order expire. The Bench was informed that their time expires today."Before that Justice Nageswara Rao's Bench had also granted an extension. First it was 4 month then comes 3 months, now what's your request sir?" Justice Lalit askedMr Sarkar submitted that while the case was fairly argued upon, he would like to bring few things to the notice of the Court." No we are not going to revisit those issues" the Bench said.Mr Sarkar continued to submit that "This Indian Bar Association has been fighting against a lot of issues including forced vaccination etc. My only request is there are more than sufficient mitigating factors, my request is that the writ petition that i have filed seeking opportunity of appeal of which Mr Bhushan has made the same request…."The Bench responded saying that "That is a different issue altogether. Initially there was an order passed by Justice Deepak Gupta, then comes an application for recall which is considered by Justice Nageswara Rao Bench, them comes the Extension, then comes another Extension. We are not going to revisit these matters now."Mr Sarkar then sought an extension of 6 months. While refusing to grant any further extension, the Bench stated that "First extension was of 4 months, next of 3 months and now you are asking a larger time than those two extensions?""We will dismiss the application, and will give direction to take you into custody if you don't surrender. So tell us when and where will you all surrender " the Bench said.Pointing out Justice Bhushan's order, Adv Nilesh Ojha, appearing as petitioner in person submitted that in this case their conviction was based on subject matter assigned by CJI, and last month office of CJI said they have closed their case on 25th March 2019."These are not the matters. These are all matters where whatever has been assigned to a particular Bench continues to be before that particular Bench, unless that Bench recuses. Don't go on all that. As far as merit is concerned, all these issues have been gone into, we will not allow you to revisit that" the Bench said.In response to Ojha's request for extension of 4 weeks time, Justice Lalit responded saying "Not at all Sir, we will not grant you even one day. We are only asking which Authority will you surrender before"Referring to Rashid Khan's application, Mr Ojha submitted that in this case CJI's information says that our conviction is product of fraud, because the case was already closed by Chief Justice."Show that, where does it say that it was a product of fraud" the Bench asked. Mr Ojha sought time to place the original document on record."You are relying on someone else's affidavit, that affidavit may have wrongly said something. Unless and until you are able to pinpoint any formal communication, we will not go through any of these documents. We are not going to enter into these areas. Which police station will you surrender before tell us that" the Bench said."You should have made your inquiries before the matter came up before court" the Bench remarked. "If the RTI reply says something perhaps that will become matter of my liberty." the petitioner Counsel said"We will not allow that. That will be like shooting in the dark. One doesn't know when you will make the RTI inquiry, and whether that response...

"Will Not Revisit The Merits" : Supreme Court Expresses Unwillingness To Grant More Time To Trio Convicted For 'Scurrilous& Scandalous' Remarks Against Judges

Srishti Ojha

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