Attorney General denies consent to contempt proceedings against Rahul Gandhi

A petitoner had alleged that the Congress leader scandalised the judiciary by commenting that ‘the ruling party in the Centre has inserted its people into judiciary’.

Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal has denied consent to the initiation of contempt proceedings against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on the basis of a plea that he scandalised the judiciary in an interview .

Mr. Venugopal said the statements of Mr. Gandhi were “too vague to be said to have lowered the authority of the institution in the eyes of the public”.

Raising an interesting point, the Attorney General said Mr. Gandhi’s statements had generally referred to the “judiciary” and no specific mentions were made about the Supreme Court or its judges.

Mr. Venugopal said his prior consent as the Attorney General for initiating contempt was necessary only if the contempt had been made against the Supreme Court.

“Then the question of my granting consent would not arise,” he said.

Mr. Venugopal was responding to a petition filed by advocate Vineet Jindal who alleged that Mr. Gandhi scandalised the judiciary by commenting that “the ruling party in the Centre has inserted its people into judiciary”.