'Savukku Shankar's contempt plea against R S Bharathi will be decided by CJ'

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the registry to re-present the papers of contempt criminal initiation against DMK organizing secretary RS Bharathi filed by famous YouTuber and political commentator Savukku Shankar.

Shankar moved the Madras High Court (MHC) seeking contempt action against R S Bharathi for his alleged criticism, questioning the integrity of the judge.

The case was listed before a division bench comprising Justice D Krishna Kumar and Justice P Dhanabal.

The bench sought the assistance of the Advocate General (AG) and Additional Solicitor General to decide the maintainability of the contempt petition as it was refused by the AG.

The bench limited the scope of the case as that the petitioner's remedy is to contest the refusal of the contempt application or the petitioner has to approach the Chief Justice (CJ) for remedy.

Senior counsel V Raghavachari appeared for Shankar, cited the Supreme Court judgment of P N Duda vs P Shiva Shankar 1988 case, and contended that AG's refusal is not judicially reviewable, hence it cannot be challenged and sought to hear the case suo motu.

The counsel submitted that a person claiming himself as a lawyer questioned the integrity of a Judge and it is a serious issue. Justice D Krishna Kumar intervened and observed that criticism over a judgment or decree is acceptable but it should not be personal.

It was also submitted that under 6 (2) rules of contempt of court Madras High Court 1975, the papers of the criminal contempt application are represented in the registry to place before CJ.

After the submission the bench directed the registry to place the papers before the CJ and the final decision will be taken by the CJ, observed the bench.

Savukku Shankar filed criminal contempt against R S Bharathi for his comments on Justice N Anand Venkatesh as he is adopting a 'pick and choose policy' in initiating the Suo Motu action against ministers and also attributed malafide intentions to the judge while addressing the media on August 24, said Savukku Shankar.

He also contended that Bharathi's comments had caused damage to the credibility of the judiciary in the eyes of the public and sought strict action against him under the Contempt of Courts Act.

The AG refused to grant consent to the application to initiate proceedings for criminal contempt against Bharathi. 'I do not see any reason to grant consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against him' said the AG while refusing the application.