Lok Sabha Question No. 3272 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Pending Contempt Cases
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Sougata Ray

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE

## DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

## Lok Sabha

Unstarred Question No. 3272 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 05 AUGUST, 2022

## Pending Contempt Cases

## 3272. PROF. SOUGATA RAY:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be please to state:

- a. whether the Attorney General follows any criteria to grant permission on contempt cases;
- b. if so, the details thereof;
- c. the  details  of  application  pending  with  Attorney  General  of  India  for granting permission to register contempt cases during the last three years;
- d. the details of permission granted on such cases during the said period; and
- e. the response of the Government regarding rising trends of criticism of Court's judgement in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a)  to  (d):    The  power  to  grant  consent  for  initiating  proceedings  for  criminal contempt of court is statutorily conferred on the Attorney General for India under Section  15  of  the  Contempt  of  Courts  Act,  1971.    This  power  is  required  to  be exercised by the Attorney General, in his best judgment.  The principles followed by  the  Attorney  General,  in  this  regard,  emanate  from  the  provisions  of  the Contempt of Courts Act, and the very definition of criminal contempt contained in Section 2(c) thereof.  Section 2(c) reads thus:

'criminal  contempt'  means  the  publication  (whether  by  words,  spoken  or written,  or  by  signs,  or  by  visible  representations,  or  otherwise)  of  any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which-

- (i) scandalises  or  tends  to  scandalise,  or  lowers  or  tends  to  lower  the authority of, any court; or (ii) prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or (iii) interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner; In  addition,  there  is  a  plethora  of  judicial  decisions  explaining  the  principles enshrined in the statute.  The ratio of these decisions is applied to the facts of each individual  case,  and  on  that  basis  a  decision  is  taken  by  the  Attorney  General whether to grant or decline consent. From 2019 onwards, more than 100 requests for grant of consent  for  initiating contempt proceedings have been dealt with by the Attorney General.  At present, only one such request is pending. of  contempt proceedings has been granted by the Attorney General in regard to 18 requests

During  the period of the last 3 years,  consent for initiation made to him.  The year-wise details are as follows:

## 2020 - Consent was granted in the following cases :

- (1) In  respect  of  tweets  dated  11.11.2020  by  Shri  Kunal  Kamra,  consent has been granted on 12.11.2020 to Mr. Abhyudaya Mishra, Mr. Amey Abhay  Sirsikar,  Mr.  Pratik  Basale,  Mr.  Skand  Bajpai,  Mr.  Abhishek Sharad  Raskar,  Ms.  Nitika  Duhan,  Mr.  Shrirang  Katneshwarkar,  and Mr. Sattyendra Vinayak Muley.
- (2) In respect of tweet dated 18.11.2020 by Shri Kunal Kamra, consent has been granted on 18.11.2020 to Mr. Abhyudaya Mishra and Mr. Skand Bajpai.
- (3) In respect of tweets dated 11.11.2020 by Ms. Rachita Taneja, consent has been granted on 01.12.2020 to Mr. Aditya Kashyap.

## 2021 - Consent was granted in the following case:

- (1) In respect of the statements made by Mr. Ajeet Bharti in his YouTube Video uploaded on 24.06.2021, consent has been granted on 14.09.2021 to Ms. Kritika Singh.

## 2022 - Consent was granted in the following cases:

- (1) In respect of the statements made by Mr. Ajeet Bharti on social media platforms in November 2021, consent has been granted on 01.02.2022 to Mr. Pratik Kumar.
- (2) In respect of the statements made by Mr. Yati Narsinganand in January 2022, consent has been granted on 21.01.2022 to Mr. Afshan Hashmi, Ms.  Asma  Hashmi,  Ms.  Shachi  Nelli  and  Mr.  M.H.  Siddiqi,  and  on 03.02.2022 to Ms. S.T. Damor.

(e)  The  Government  has  the  highest  respect  for  Judiciary  and  the  criticism  of Judgements, if any, are dealt under the provisions of relevant laws.