Andhra Pradesh High Court Issues Contempt Notices For Derogatory Social Media Posts Against Judges Who Heard Chandrababu Naidu's Plea

The Division Bench of Justice Cheekati Manavendranath Roy and Justice Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao expressed displeasure and directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to identify the actual owners of the accounts associated with the respondents.

The criminal contempt motion was moved by the Advocate General and Senior Counsel Subrahmanyam Sriram based on complaints regarding derogatory comments made on social media platforms against Judge B. Satya Venkata Himabindu, ACB cum Additional District Judge, Vijayawada, Justice K Suresh Reddy and Justice K Sreenivasa Reddy, Judges of the High Court.

Judge Himabindu had passed the remand order in the trial court remanding Naidu to the Central Jail. Justice K. Sreenivasa Reddy dismissed the petition filed to quash the FIR against Naidu in the Skill Development Scam, and an anticipatory bail was filed before K. Suresh Reddy by Naidu, pertaining to another scam.

The petition read as follows,

“The statements made in the aforesaid media interactions and television interviews as well as the posts in various social media scandalise the court as also to tends to lower dignity of the judiciary in the eyes of the public…The comments are continuous and aimed at overawing the special court to prejudice or to interfere with the due course of the judicial proceedings...These comments have the effect of lowering the authority of the Court while scandalizing the justice delivery system. The tenor and content of the said posts indicate that these are made with intent and belief that such statements scandalize the authority of the Court.” 

An enormous amount of evidence was filed along with the contempt petition, showcasing heinous remarks made against the Judges on various social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, “X” (formally Twitter) and even clippings from various news channels.

Allegations were made against the sitting Judges of the High Court, attributing motive to the orders passed by them along with slogans such as “Victims of Reddy Raj in Judiciary.” It was contended that allegations like this cannot be tolerated as they scandalize the working of the court.

Death threats were also made against Judge Himabindu who passed the remand order in the Naidu case, alleging that the order was passed under the influence of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Allegedly, suspended Judicial Magistrate Ramakrishna also gave a news interview suggesting that Judge Himabindu's orders were influenced.

It was also brought to the notice of the Court that a complaint has been filed over some of the social media posts.

The motion further reads, “..since it appears to be a calibrated and coordinated process of scandalising the judiciary, I am constrained to move this motion to secure the attention of the Hon'ble Court for appropriate action.” 

The Advocate General pointed out to the Bench that in a similar matter, which is still pending before the Court, the Bench had directed the Director General of Police to serve notice on the respondents and prayed for similar orders.

The matter will be taken up again next month. 

Case Title: Advocate General vs. Sri Muvva Tarak Krishna Yadav and Ors.