The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed two English dailies including The Hindu and two local television channels to file their affidavits on the authenticity of the news item they carried on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s August 14 remarks on corruption in the judiciary.
This was in response to a plea by a group of lawyers praying for criminal contempt proceedings against her. A Division Bench of Justices Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Asim Kumar Mondal went through the reports of the newspapers and CDs presented by the lawyers.
“The court has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and asked the editors of the newspapers and the news channels to file an affidavit within three weeks stating whether or not the reports were correct,” said Bikash Bhattacharya, one of the advocates who raised the issue before the court.
The matter would be taken up for hearing again after four weeks.
Mr. Bhattacharya argued that Ms. Banerjee made her remarks at a seminar, for which the Legislative Assembly was only a venue. Thus, her comments did not enjoy the immunity that legislative discussions do have under Article 211 of the Constitution.
He told journalists that the comments were “derogatory, scandalous and have the tendency to interfere with justice.”
Speaking at the seminar on Executive Accountability to Parliament/Legislature, Ms. Banerjee had said: “Why will judgments be given only in favour of those who offer money? I am sorry to say this; people can condemn me for this. I can be arrested and put in jail for this, but somewhere I will have to express my opinion.”
Earlier in the day, a public interest litigation petition on the same issue was moved by a separate group of lawyers before another Bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice Jaymalya Bagchi.
“The court allowed us to file the litigation and it will come up for hearing on Friday. It asked us to submit proof of her statements and said it will examine it in its administrative capacity,” said advocate Subrata Mukherjee.
Mr. Mukherjee said the remarks made by Ms. Banerjee, who holds a constitutional post, sent out a wrong message to not only the Bar and the Bench but also litigants.
Why are we seeing this particular issue in a linear way. I agree making such a statement by a chief minister may not be appropiate but if one has made give a thought for a minute.
Either the statement could have been made in a rush of the moment or there might be some evidence or instance which made her make this particular statement.
At the end i just want the indian judiciary to be credible.
Mamataji whatever said very politely and it is not at all false,so why
should any one react like this. Every one know that what the hell is
going in Judiciary and still some judges shamelessly shouting as if some
judges have been arrested or killed. We the Indians are not habituated
with the truth and hesitate to counter boldly.
All said and done, the fact remains that judiciary in India is waning
and people in general are losing their faith for whatever reasons
Judiciary should be careful when dealing with contempt cases. People
should have the right to express what they genuinely feel. However,
scandalous statements don't deserve leniency. We don't want holy cow
institutions in a democratic setup. However, in the case of Mamata
Banerjee, she has behaved like a loose cannon on several occasions, so
this could be an exception to my second statement.
every one wants to hear good things.I support Mamtaji for whatever she said. She usually lost her temper because she knows lots of people are doing wrong and she never wanted to avoid .she is a true leader of our country. I fully support her. There is nothing to text here. Everybody knows how corrupt our most of the systems are, but YES people want to avoid. I can say one thing she don't know how to handle these shrewd people wisely n politically and the only reason is because she is an honest lady.
What Mamataji told is correct. You can see many examples of bribery in
judiciary (Janardhana Reddy's case). How can one believe that judiciary
is non corrupt. The law and order situation is very bad in the country
and the people have lost confidence in it. Only politician and Goonds
have freedom in this country. Rest of the people are still fighting
for freedom. Ha... why we took freedom from British which should have
been continued and the country would not not have been so corrupt as on
now.
what would have benn punshimentt for contempt of court for a common man and more for VVIPS,like a chief minister of big state and MP,must be heard bo inthe court and also in parliament, and in the absence of open apology for reported remkark& spelt against judiciary,amounts a simple and token punishment of even a day:s jail to a common man is possible.People in he glass houses, mus not through stones outside and has to talk only essential good for the country and not otherwise, like an ordinary Politicians,who has no value.
although there has been few cases of corruption charges against judges,a chief minster if
she has made such statement,least to say shows her immaturity.she should stop such
loose talks!
she echoed the feeling of the common man without the backing of money,
influence, association of some religion/caste
Unfortunately some vested interest on our society only blaming the whistle blower. What she said, reality is the wound is far far deeper. We Indians are going backward because of of nature of always being ignorant on all important issues the Nations is facing now. Even though, i don't agree on all the issues with Mamtaji, but i respect her an honest politician & what is said on this topic.
We have to look for why people loosing the trust on Judiciary not why she said that. Those lawyer must be some paid one by her opponent, no doubt.
Though one or some of the Judges take bribes in Andhra Pradesh recently and in West Bengal, its unfortunate that being CM of state, commented like this. If any common man commented like this, police would have encountered by this time. She is still alive because she enjoys highest power in State. Her remarks lose confidence in society that people have confidence only one Institution that is JUDICIARY. She attempt to kill that confidence due to her arrogant and negligence and mindless comments.
Corrupts are never perturbed.
Ms. Mamatha Benarjee, is the Chief Minister of West Bengal and she has to comment very carefully, particularly when commented on Judiciary. She may express her views freely but they should not publish in the news papers and Electronic media. Both print media and Electronic media are taking advantage and entering in the private life of the people stating that they are public. Some sort of discrepancy is coming when politicians are expressing their thoughts. When the news are coming in the news papers, the politicians are telling the media is diverting the matter and we have not expressed like that. This is quite common in these days. The credibility of news papers and different TV Channels are creating mess in the minds of people. Every day we are seeing in the news review and different people are commenting on the news published. Eventhough it is their personal opinion, this type of discussions are creating unbalanced thoughts in the people and society. This is not good.
COmpletely agree and salute Mamta comments. It is not good for nation to react on such comments rather they should analyze the real truth prevailed in society. There must be internal assessment within judiciary, specially lower judiciary where lot of pending cases are driving to the citizen to go bribe activities. It is not only corrupting citizens but also wasting citizens time and money both.
Hon. mamtaji,
please do not poke your nose in such a matter which are not
related to you. please do not blame judiciary without any evidence.
blame on judiciary is not a joke.
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