Attorney General KK Venugopal has refused to grant his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for remarks made against the judiciary. This was after a lawyer, Vineet Jindal, wrote to the AG alleging that Gandhi’s comments had lowered the dignity of the judiciary.
Jindal’s letter quoted excerpts from a recent interview of Gandhi, who had said, “This country has a legal system where one had 100% independence in voicing his/her opinion. It is very clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is inserting its people in all these institutions / systems. It is very obvious! They are taking away the institutional framework of this country.”
According to the Bar and Bench website, Jindal said that by saying ‘ruling party in central government inserted its people into judiciary’ Gandhi had scandalised the judicial system of India. Jindal said in his letter, “A democracy requires a judiciary, which is independent, a press that is independent, a legislature that is independent in its workings.”
However, Venugopal disagreed and said that the question of granting ‘consent would not arise.’ He wrote, “In any event, I am of the opinion that the statements in question are too vague to be said to have lowered the authority of the institution in the eyes of the public.”
Under the rules, the consent of the Attorney General or Solicitor General is required before the Supreme Court can hear any contempt petition filed by a private individual.