Supreme Court Initiates Contempt Proceedings Against YouTuber Ajay Shukla For Alleged Defamatory Remarks Against Judges

The Supreme Court initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Chandigarh-based journalist and YouTuber Ajay Shukla for his alleged 'scandalous', defamatory, and contemptuous remarks against some Supreme Court Judges in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

 The Court also issued a notice to Shukla, the Editor-in-Chief of Varprad Media.

The three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, Justice Augustine George Masih, and Justice A.S. Chandurkar  directed that the offending video be immediately taken down and restrained the channel from republishing it or similar content.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta described the remarks as “very serious” and expressed his gratitude to the Bench for taking up suo motu cognizance of the issue.

“Shukla in the said video clip has made scandalous observations about some of the senior judges of this court. Such scandalous allegations widely published on YouTube are likely to bring disrepute to this august institution of judiciary”, the CJI said.

The Court said that though the Constitution guarantees free speech, and expression but such a right is restricted by reasonable restrictions and cannot be allowed to make defamatory allegations regarding judges of this court. The remarks which are contemptuous in nature bring disrepute to the institute of judiciary.

“We direct the registry to register the case as a suo motu contempt against Ajay Shukla. The YouTube channel shall be made a party respondent. The Attorney General and the Solicitor General are requested to assist the court”, it ordered.

Shukla recently posted a video making remarks against retired judge Justice Bela M. Trivedi.

With PTI Inputs