'If He Has Said Something Silly, We Will Ignore' : Justice Chandrachud On Plea For Contempt Against Suresh Chavhanke For His Tweets

Justice D Y Chandrahcud of the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accept a plea for taking suo moto contempt action against Mr. Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-Chief of the Sudarshan TV, for his tweets after the court passed the order to stop the telecast of his show 'Bindas Bol'.

Senior Advocate Anup Chaudhuri, appearing for the petitioner Firoz Iqbal, submitted that he has file a petition for initiating suo moto criminal contempt action against Chavhanke as his tweets in response to the court order were "contemptuous".

In response to this Justice Chandrachud, smilingly, said: "Mr. Chaudhuri, if he(Chavhanke) has said something silly, we will ignore it".

The bench, also comprising Justices K M Joseph and Indu Malhotra, proceeded to adjourn the main case till tomorrow at 12 PM, subject to the administrative orders of the Chief Justice of India allowing the constitution of the bench tomorrow (as the bench is not otherwise sitting tomorrow).

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan submitted that the channel has filed its counter-affidavit and requested for early consideration of the matter as the telecast has been stayed.

On September 15, the top court had stopped the telecast of the remaining episodes of the show, after prima facie observing that the 'object, intent and the purpose of the show was to vilify the Muslim community'.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud remarked that there was an "insidious attempt to malign a community" and stated that a constitutional court cannot allow the vilifaction of any community in a pluralistic society.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra & KM Joseph was hearing a petition filed against the telecast of the show hosted by the channel's Chief Editor Mr. Suresh Chavhanke on the ground that it was communalizing the entry of Muslims into UPSC.

The channel in its counter-affidavit claimed that it was doing "investigative journalism" into oversees funding for Muslim training centres from sources having links with terror groups.