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Synopsis

Advocates Vineet Jindal and Shashank Shekhar Jha have written letters to Attorney General KK Venugopal to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Senior Advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal for allegedly scandalizing the Indian Judiciary and disgracing its dignity.

Jindal's letter states, "Sibal’s statement was aired and widely speculated on internet and news publication in which Sibal has passed derogatory and scandalous statements in the context of Supreme Court of India."

The letter refers to the speech delivered by Sibal at an event, “People's Tribunal”, organized to discuss the "Judicial Rollback of Civil Liberties" by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the National Alliance of People's movements (NAPM).

The letter states that Sibal said that "sensitive cases" are assigned to only selected judges and the legal fraternity usually knows beforehand what the outcome of the judgment would be.

Quoting from Sibal's speech, the letter states that Sibal said, "I do not want to talk like this about a Court where I have practiced for 50 years but the time has come. If we don't speak it, who will? The reality is such that any sensitive matter which we know has a problem is placed before certain judges and we know the outcome."

"Sibal also questioned the independence of the judiciary saying, 'Jis court mein judge bithaye jaate hain (the court where judges are instituted) through a process of compromise, a court where there is no system to determine which case will be presided over by which bench, where the Chief Justice of India decides which matter will be dealt with by which bench and then the court can never be independent," the letter adds.

The letter alleges that the statements by Sibal have scandalized the judgments passed by the Supreme Court judges and accused the judges of being corrupt. "If this kind of precedent were allowed, political leaders would start making reckless allegations against the judges of the highest Court of our country and this trend would soon lead to the failure of an independent judiciary system," it reads.

It may also be noted that Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha has also written to AG Venugopal seeking a similar consent alleging that Sibal has categorically insulted the Supreme Court, and its Judges and has undermined the authority of the Supreme Court as well. Sibal has made labeling serious charges against the Chief Justice of India and other Justices of the Supreme Court, Jha adds.

Furthermore, Jha has alleged that Sibal has raised doubt about the independence of the Supreme Court and undermined its dignity with a malafide intention to malign the image of the Supreme Court.