New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): After Attorney General K.K. Venugopal granted his consent, a law student has moved the Supreme Court with a plea for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against comic artist Rachita Taneja, for objectionable tweets against the top court.
The plea filed by a final year law student Aditya Kashyap, through advocate Namit Saxena, said the three alleged posts in the form of cartoons have shaken the public trust and confidence in the judicial system of our constitutional democracy by directly attacking and making insinuations against the Supreme Court.
The petitioner, citing Taneja's cartoon, said on the face of it, the alleged contemnor (Taneja) has interfered with the administration of justice by portraying the Supreme Court and the current ruling party to be the father of the journalist Arnab Goswami.
"The alleged contemnor exercises influence through her social media handles and whatever content she posts on these platforms gets immediately multiplied through various other users", said the plea.
The petitioner has argued that, through the tweets, the clear implication would be that the Supreme Court is biased towards the ruling political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and would tailor its judgments for the benefit of it.
The plea contended that the three posts have tried to show that Goswami is linked to the current ruling establishment and has shelter from the top court, and this is being done without any proof or analysis at all.
"For that it is trite law that an action for contempt of Court should not be frequently taken. But, at the same time, the Court should not abstain from using this weapon even when its use is needed to correct standards of behaviour in a grossly and repeatedly erring quarter", the plea said.
The petitioner has urged the top court to take cognisance under section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with Rule 3 (c) of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975, of the actions of the alleged contemnor and initiate criminal contempt proceedings in accordance with law.