On Tuesday, Attorney General KK Venugopal granted consent to initiate contempt of court proceedings against YouTuber and journalist Ajeet Bharti for his alleged objectionable remarks against the Supreme Court of India. “The statements are vulgar, vituperative, outrageous and gross and undoubtedly tend to lower the authority of the Supreme Court and would seriously undermine the confidence of the people in the institution”, the Attorney General said while granting consent to initiate contempt against Bharti.
“The statements are vulgar, vituperative, outrageous and gross and undoubtedly tend to lower the authority of the Supreme Court & would seriously undermine the confidence of the people in the institution” AG while granting consent to initiate contempt against @NijiSachiv
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) February 22, 2022
According to reports, the consent under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act has been granted on a letter sent by a lawyer, Pratik Kumar. This is the second instance when the Attorney General has granted sanction against Bharti for his alleged derogatory video about the Supreme Court and its judges. Earlier in the month of September, Attorney General had sanctioned to initiate contempt proceedings alleging that the video posted on the YouTube channel of Ajeet Bharti’s media initiative DO Politics had ‘scurrilous’, ‘vituperative’ and ‘highly derogatory’ words against Supreme Court and its judges.
Attorney General KK Venugopal today said that bashing court had become a pastime for some. The allegations pertain to a video titled “Ajeet Bharti Roasts Supreme Court, High Courts” posted to the DO Politics channel on June 24. In the video almost 24 minutes in length, Bharti is accused to have made objectionable comments against the Judiciary.
Later in July, a law student named Kritika Singh from Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University had written to the attorney general for sanction to initiate contempt proceedings against Ajeet Bharti. The law graduate had alleged that the journalist maligned the reputation of the Courts using vile and obscene language. The letter claimed that Bharti had levelled allegations of nepotism, rampant corruption and directing protests across the country.
“The foundation of justice delivery system has always been so strong that it never allowed anyone to obstruct the way towards equal justice by publicly using abusive language against the Hon’ble Courts and its Hon’ble Judges. As a responsible citizen of this country and a student of law, I would be failing in my duty if I turned a blind eye to this grave attack on the integrity of my Hon’ble Supreme court and its Hon’ble judges”, Singh said in her letter.
Reports mention that as per Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, the consent of Attorney General is required before the Supreme Court can hear a criminal contempt of court petition filed by a private individual.
