Author: PTI
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: November 30, 2004
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/940421.cms
In a relief to Shiv Sena supremo
Bal Thackeray, the Supreme Court today set aside a Mumbai High Court order
of 1997 convicting him for contempt of court for levelling bribery charges
against a judge in his Dussehra public speech at Shivaji Park in Mumbai
in 1996.
A bench comprising Justices Y K
Sabharwal, DM Dharmadhikari and Tarun Chatterjee, in a unanimous decision,
said that as the contempt proceedings were initiated at the behest of a
private party, the latter should have first obtained the consent of the
advocate-general of Maharashtra.
As no consent was obtained before
the petition was filed by Congress leader Harish Pimpalkhute, the High
Court committed an error by going ahead with the contempt proceedings,
the bench observed.
The High Court had sentenced the
Sena supremo to imprisonment for a week and asked to pay a fine of Rs 2,000.
The high Court had held him guilty
of making the contemptuous remarks, which were also published in the party's
mouthpiece Saamna.
The apex court also quashed the
High Court order against Saamna editor Sanjay Raut and printer & publisher
Subhash Desai. The SC directed that the fine deposited by the appellants
be refunded.
The bench accepted the contention
of the appellants' counsel P H Parekh that the apex court had laid down
a law in P N Duda case that if a private person requests a high court for
initiation of criminal contempt against another, then the petitioner must
seek the consent of the concerned advocate-general.
