New Delhi, May 4, 2025
The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday a public interest litigation(PIL) filed over the “contemptuous act” committed by BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey in “scandalising” the top court and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar will take up the matter for hearing on May 5.
The petition said that Dubey, a Member of Parliament from Jharkhand’s Godda, made a “very provocative, hateful and scandalising” statement against CJI Khanna and the highest judicial institution of the country.
During an interview, Dubey had said that “Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna is responsible for all the civil wars happening in India” and “to provoke the religious war in this country only and only the Supreme Court is responsible”.
“The entire contents of the interview are full of derogatory speech towards the judiciary and the Supreme Court. Such acts amount to an offence punishable under BNS and also under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971,” stated the plea filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari.
The PIL stressed the importance of protecting the dignity of the Supreme Court and its judges, and prayed the top court to invoke the powers provided under Article 129 of the Constitution of India (the power to punish for contempt of itself).
Earlier, the top court had granted permission to advocate Tiwari to file a fresh petition after he sought permission to amend the plea in view of the “serious speech made against the Chief Justice of India”.
“You file a fresh petition,” said a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh as it emphasised that the averments made in the petition should not infringe the “dignity and decorum of the institution”.
The previous PIL had sought the formation of a five-member judicial enquiry commission under the chairmanship of a retired apex court judge to enquire into the violent protests that erupted against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, in West Bengal’s Murshidabad.(Agency)
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