Many trying to influence judges, outcome of cases account to contempt; Attorney General tells SC
Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted before a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar that the trend in media has taken a very dangerous proportion.
FollowNew Delhi: Commenting on pending cases in an attempt to influence the judges and their outcome amounts to contempt of court, Attorney General KK Venugopal on Tuesday (October 13) submitted before the Supreme Court.
"When a bail application comes up for hearing, TV flashes conversations between the accused and someone, and that is damaging to the accused and comes up during the bail hearing," Venugopal said before a Supreme Court bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, BR Gavai, and Krishna Murari. "This is contempt of court," he added.
Venugopal was giving his views in the context of examining if lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan's controversial remarks in 2009 against three former Chief Justices of India amounted to contempt. Bhushan had passed the remarks in an interview with Tehelka magazine.
Venugopal submitted before a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar that the trend in media has taken a very dangerous proportion.
"When Rafale was to be heard by this court, we had big articles and commentaries with extracts of certain documents being published in the morning on the day of hearing," lamented the AG.
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He said that the top court, while deciding issues relating to what kind of speech and publications may amount to contempt, should also consider these issues.
The bench is considering issues such the procedure to express grievance against a judge and under what circumstances. It is also looking into the extent to which a matter sub judice may be discussed in the media. The Supreme Court had sought Venugopal's help on these matters.
The bench then adjourned the hearing to November 4, requesting AG to reformulate the issues in consultation with the other lawyers.
The court had also requested senior advocate Harish Salve, who was appearing in this matter as the amicus curiae since 2009, to assist the bench on the next date.
