New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 29, took serious exception to what it called “scurrilous allegations” made by petitioner Peddi Raju against Telangana High Court judge Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya. In serious consideration of the remarks, the top court issued contempt notices to Raju and his lawyers for holding them as a group responsible for the wrongdoing.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran made it amply clear that the judiciary cannot be placed on trial on mere allegations by litigants looking to secure beneficial outcomes.
“We cannot keep judges in a box through wild allegations. We were actually trying to save the lawyers,” the CJI noted during the hearing.
The case involved a petition submitted by Raju, in which he had requested the transfer of a case against Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, as the Telangana High Court had already rejected criminal charges invoked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The petitioner had raised doubts about the correctness of the High Court’s order and made arbitrary comments on Justice Bhattacharya in the process.
Not only did the Supreme Court deny Raju’s application for the withdrawal of the petition, it also asked him to furnish an apology. “We will examine if the apology is sincere or not,” the bench observed.
In an important remark, the court made it clear that lawyers for the petitioner would not be exempted, and that they too would be brought to book for their involvement in filing the plea that had objectionable matter.
The top court further stated that the leniency in the case would be based on the genuineness of the apologies filed by both the petitioner and his lawyers.
