A petition seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her alleged comments that judgments these days are purchased was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday by J&K Panthers Party founder Bhim Singh.
Professor Bhim Singh, a senior advocate, alleged in his petition that Ms. Banerjee’s comments had the inevitable effect of “undermining” the confidence of the public in the judiciary, as “it tends to lower the integrity, reputation, and authority of the judicial system.”
He sought a direction to the Union government to produce the entire record relating to her speech and utterances, said to be made on August 14 at the platinum jubilee celebrations of the State legislature.
The petitioner, quoting Article 129 of the Constitution, said “the Chief Minister’s comments ‘amount to scandalising, and have lowered the authority of the judiciary as a whole’.” He said that as Ms. Banerjee was a popular Chief Minister, people tend to take her words seriously.
The petitioner annexed copies of newspaper clippings in support of the charge.