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Synopsis

A letter has been written to Attorney General R. Venkataramani seeking consent to initiate proceedings under Section 15 of the
Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, read with Section 3(c) of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975, against Uddhav Thackeray, Member of the Legislative Council of Maharashtra, for remarks made by him against the Chief Justice of India.

Reference has been made to a political speech made by Thackeray, on the day of Dussehra, i.e., October 24, 2023.

The video is available on Shiv Sena (UBT)’s official website and was live streamed by many news media outlets on Youtube as well.

In the said video, the following statement was made in Marathi, which has been translated for reference as below:

“It's not as if all families are good or all are bad. A 'gharana'(family/dynasty/clan) also has its own traditions, its own sanskars (values handed down). An individual's identity is defined by which family he/she belongs to. If you view dynasties in this way... a doctor's son becomes a doctor. We are also people who protect our dynasty, our family’s tradition. One similar... not a dynasty... but family tradition I'd like to particularly refer to here. That example is of the Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, Chandrachud Saheb. He is in that position because of his own ability. But his father was also the chief justice, and he was strong and ‘kankhar’ (firm and unyielding/having a backbone). After all, everyone has to decide how they want their name to be recorded in history. Each one bas to decide whether he's going to be known as someone who never bent before anyone or as someone who licked the boots of those wielding power.”

Deepak Upadhyay, a journalist by profession has alleged the statements to be scurrilous, unwarranted and defamatory remarks that are extremely derogatory, aimed at undermining the dignity/majesty of the Supreme Court and to malign the office of the Chief Justice of India.

"His remarks are personally targeting the Hon’ble Chief Justice and are an attempt to interfere with the administration of justice by exerting pressure to influence the outcome of sub-judice matters and coerce the Hon’ble Chief Justice to decide them in a particular way. It may even be an attempt to scandalize the court and have certain benches stay their hands from hearing matters. The statements also question judicial independence and integrity as it implies bias, partiality and subservience of the judiciary to the executive. By no stretch of imagination can they be reasonably considered to be “fair criticism” or “a bonafide expression of opinion”
protected by the freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution of India to any citizen...", the letter says.