Supreme Court refuses to hear for now contempt plea in JNU row

The Supreme Court has declined to hear a criminal contempt plea filed against three persons in connection with the JNU row in which pro-Afzal Guru events were held.

The matter was mentioned before a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, T S Thakur.

It may be recalled that even the Attorney General of India had declined to give his consent to a petition seeking the Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings in the JNU row case.

The argument by the petitioner is that criticising the hanging of Afzal Guru amounts to criticising the order of the Supreme Court which had upheld his conviction in the Parliament attack case.

The petitioner sought action against the students and also S A R Geelani for raising anti-India slogans during an event and also condemned the judiciary for the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The petitioner had initially sought that the matter be heard on February 22, but the Bench had declined the request. The petitioner contended that the matter should be heard urgently as the protests were spreading like wild fire across the country.

In matters of contempt unless taken up suo-motu by the Supreme Court, the mandate is that the nod of the AG has to be sought.

Under Rule 3 (c) of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975, a petition filed by a third person alleging contempt should receive prior consent of the Attorney-General or the Solicitor-General in writing before the court takes action.

The AG had however declined consent. The AG however did not spell out any reason before declining his consent.