A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday seeking contempt of court proceedings against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi, State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil and Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut for allegedly passing remarks against the judiciary.
The plea has been filed by the Indian Bar Association contending that Mr. Thackeray, Mr. Patil and Mr. Raut have misused their positions and levelled several “false, scandalous and contemptuous” allegations against judges of the Bombay High Court.
The PIL also seeks contempt proceedings against Ms. Thackeray, editor of Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana, and its printer and publisher Vivek Kadam.
“The respondents are in power and are involved in a campaign of scandalizing the entire judicial system only because judgements rendered by courts do not suit them. They plan to keep their opponents in jail or to cause them harassment by the misuse of power and police machinery, which failed due to the orders of this Court and the Supreme Court.”
The plea claims that slogans were made against the judges of the Bombay High Court after members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got relief from the court in connection with the Kirit Somaiya case. The PIL is listed to be heard on April 26.
