NEW DELHI: Attorney General KK Venugopal refused to give his consent to a plea seeking to initiate contempt of court proceedings against senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai over his tweets on the Prashant Bhushan case verdict.
Rejecting the request to initiate contempt proceedings, the AG said the statements of Sardesai were “not of so serious a nature as to undermine the majesty of the Supreme Court or lower its stature”. The top law officer’s response came on an application filed by an Astha Khurana over the tweets posted by Sardesai on the SC verdict against Bhushan.
“The reputation of the Supreme Court as one of the great pillars of our democracy has been built assiduously over the last 70 years. Trifling remarks and mere passing criticism though perhaps distasteful are unlikely to tarnish the image of the institution,” Venugopal said.
Astha had claimed he had disrespected the SC and made a deliberate attempt to erode public faith in the judiciary. She had cited five tweets to support her claim, one of which said, “Breaking: Rs 1 token fine imposed by SC on @pbhushan1 in contempt case.. if he doesn’t pay it, then 3 months jail sentence! Clearly, court looking to wriggle out of an embarrassment of its own making.”