Attorney general denies consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Swara Bhaskar
The Attorney General's nod is a must before filing a contempt petition in the top court, under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for initiating contempt proceedings against a person.
New Delhi: The Attorney General of India KK Venugopal refused his consent for initiating criminal contempt of court proceedings against Bollywood actor Swara Bhaskar for her alleged “derogatory and scandalous” statements against the Supreme Court over the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case verdict.
The Attorney General’s nod is a must before filing a contempt petition in the top court, under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for initiating contempt proceedings against a person.
Attorney General KK Venugopal said the comment was the “perception of the speaker” and did not “offer any comment on the Supreme Court itself or say anything that would scandalise or tend to scandalise… the authority of the Supreme Court”.
Attorney General KK Venugopal says no to contempt proceedings against @ReallySwara for her remarks on Ayodhya. Reports my colleague Prabhakar pic.twitter.com/j0HYYtWAR6
— Sukesh Ranjan (@RanjanSukesh) August 23, 2020
“In my opinion, this statement does not constitute criminal contempt,” the Attorney General said.
The statement, reportedly made at an event in Mumbai, was written out in the Attorney General’s letter: “We are living in a country where the Supreme Court states that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was unlawful and, in the same judgment, rewards the same people who brought down the mosque”.
The petition intends to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Bhaskar for passing derogatory and scandalous statements in the context of the Supreme Court of India on February 1, 2020, at a panel discussion organised by ‘Mumbai Collective’. The petition is filed by Advocate Anuj Saxena, Prakash Sharma, Mahek Maheshwari on behalf of Usha Shetty.