Have Protected Their Rights Still They Keep Condemning, Very Unfortunate: Apex Court Issues Notice To Nikhil Wagle, Sanjay Raut On Contempt Plea Over Remarks Against CJI

The Supreme Court has issued notice in a plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking criminal contempt proceedings against journalist Nikhil Wagle and Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut for their remarks against the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

The SCBA filed this petition after obtaining formal written consent from the Attorney General for India, R. Venkataramani.

The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ordered, "Issue Notice returnable on so and so date. We are granting exemption from personal appearance."

Chief Justice Kant remarked, "Whenever personal liberty or any rights are jeopardized, each one of them will have to have been in past also coming to the court seeking rescue, and probably the courts have never lagged behind in protecting those rights, and if you still keep on condemning, criticizing, taking left and right, it's very unfortunate. Very, very unfortunate. We hope better sense prevails on everyone, that's all. We can pray."

Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai appeared for SCBA

Rai submitted, "We are pained to initiate these contempt proceedings. One is the responsible Member of Parliament, my Lord. The other is a very responsible senior journalist. But ultimately we thought that if we ignore this now. There are so many other persons. They are actually instigated by this, and they are completely uttering inappropriately, and it's completely disreputable to the institution"

Chief Justice Kant said, "People don't understand that they are being trapped..."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in Court, submitted, "I support SCBA. Many of them understand; they do it deliberately. They misunderstand that it may not successfully bring pressure on the court. They believe that it brings pressure. Attempt is that, may be a futile one."

"They cannot do, my Lord, these pressures. We cannot come to those pressures", Rai added.

The remarks were made after the CJI declined to meet a delegation of Opposition leaders regarding ongoing protests in Delhi over the SIR issue. Following this refusal, Nikhil Wagle posted an abusive comment targeting the CJI from his social media account. The SCBA stated that such a deliberate post on a public platform by a senior journalist scandalized and lowered the authority of the Supreme Court.

It has been reported that Sanjay Raut made false allegations against the judiciary, claiming that judges attended political programs of the ruling party and accepted dinner invitations from Chief Ministers. He also referred to alleged photographs of judges playing badminton with political figures in London to make accusations against the CJI and other judges.

It has also been reported that Wagle offered an unconditional apology for his comment. He explained that his post was an emotional outburst and confirmed that he had deleted it from his account.

Accordingly, the Court issued notice in the matter.

Cause Title: Supreme Court Bar Association v. Nikhil Wagle and Anr. [Conmt. Pet. (Crl.) No. 2/2026]