AG declines permission for presecution of Farooq

New Delhi, Oct 31 (UNI) Attorney General (AG) of India Milon K Banerji today declined to give consent for initiating proceedings for criminal contempt of the Supreme Court against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the judges who awarded death sentence to Mohammad Afzal in the Parliament attack case.

Mr Banerji refused to give his consent to Rajesh Kumar Gogna, an advocate who had sought it under section 15 of the contempt of court act 1971 for making derogatory remarks also giving a veiled threat to the trial court judge during a television inteview to Karan Thapar.

The Attorney General, in his letter said the remarks made by Dr Abdullah during his interview did not constitute any contempt of court and his remarks cannot be held to have the effect of shaking the confidence of the public in the institution of judiciary and it does not scandalise the judiciary in general or the Supreme Court in particular, hence ''I decline consent''.

UNI AKS/SC SI BS1849