On Tuesday (November 30), the Andhra Pradesh High Court claimed that criticism of judges can amount to conspiracy and attack on the institution of the Judiciary. The court made the observation while rejecting the bail application of 5 people, accused of making objectionable posts about High Court and Supreme Court judges on social media.
The matter was heard by a Bench led by Justice D Ramesh. The Andhra Pradesh High Court noted that the allegations made against the judges fell within the purview of scandalising the court. On the directions of the court, the CBI had filed cases against the accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 504 (provocation), 505-2 (Statements creating or promoting enmity), 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act 2000.
They were arrested in October 2021, following which the accused moved the High Court to appeal for bail. Their petition was opposed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, who sought their police custody. The central agency argued that the accused could influence the witnesses if they were released on bail. The Court however rebuked the CBI for taking a year to arrest the accused but noted that there might be influential people behind the conspiracy.
“On perusal of the postings made by all the persons against some of the Judges of the High Court as well as Apex Court can be construed as a conspiracy against an institution. Large number of persons have made postings on social media and continued to put postings from April 8 2020, even till today,” the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled. It further added, “That shows that these persons are putting postings in social media, not against the individual judges. It should be construed as an attack on the institution. The allegations made against the judges come within the purview of scandalizing the Courts.”
The Court was not satisfied with the purpose to grant bail to the accused, given that the investigation was underway. Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had recently directed social media platforms to remove ‘abusive content’ against Judges. In this regard, they have asked the Registrar General to hand over the links of the derogatory posts to Facebook, Twitter and other intermediaries so that they can be removed within 36 hours.
