NEW DELHI: The Delhi government's Additional Standing Counsel has granted consent for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) legal head Ratna Singh over her social media posts concerning a judge of a Delhi court here.
Singh had made certain posts on social media platform X expressing dissatisfaction with an order passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate Abhinav Pandey of the Saket courts in proceedings concerning her alleged detention by the Delhi Police.
Additional Standing Counsel (Criminal) Amol Sinha opined that the posts went beyond criticism of the judicial order and prima facie suggested that the magistrate was acting under the instructions of an “external authority”.
"The said expressions prima facie suggest that the Judicial Officer was acting under the instructions of an external authority rather than independently exercising judicial discretion in accordance with law," Sinha said in a letter dated November 2.
Sinha gave his consent for taking appropriate steps to initiate proceedings against Singh under Section 15(2) of the Contempt of Courts Act.
He added, “Such imputations questioned the independence and impartiality of the judicial process and were capable of lowering the authority of the court and undermining public confidence in the administration of justice.”
The law officer also considered subsequent statements concerning the Delhi Police and the functioning of the Special Executive Magistrate system, but said these could not be treated as criminal contempt merely because they amounted to strong criticism of the authorities.
Sinha clarified that his opinion was confined to the prima facie nature of the allegations and would not amount to a final determination of criminal contempt, “which would be subject to independent consideration by the Delhi High Court.”
The action was taken on a representation by advocate Kausik Chatterjee, who sought initiation of contempt proceedings against Singh through a letter dated October 14, and a supplementary representation made on October 28.