New Delhi, Sep 3 The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended the six-month imprisonment sentence imposed on a YouTuber who was held guilty of contempt of court over videos that "personally attacked" certain judicial officers and "lowered" the dignity of the judicial system.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu agreed to hear the appeal filed by Gulshan Pahuja who challenged the orders of the Delhi High Court that convicted and sentenced him for having committed criminal contempt of court.
"Till the next date of hearing of the appeal, we order suspension of sentence; consequently, the appellant (Pahuja) be released on interim bail," the bench said.
"We hope and trust that the appellant will refrain from repeating the conduct for which he was convicted for contempt by the high court. Any recurrence, if brought to our notice, could lead to revocation of this order of interim protection," it said.
The top court issued notice on the appeal as well as on the application seeking grant of bail and posted the matter for hearing in the week commencing October 5.
Pahuja filed the plea in the apex court through advocate Jugul Kishor Gupta.
In April, the Delhi High Court held him guilty of contempt of court.
It said that Pahuja's content on his channel 'Fight 4 Judicial Reforms' was not protected as "free speech" under the Constitution.
"He has personally attacked three judicial officers and even imputed that in case a litigant's case is listed before them, such litigant should not expect justice. What is the foundation of such over-sweeping remarks against the judicial officers?" the high court said.
It said that no judicial officer is expected to be 100 per cent correct all the time, and a litigant, therefore, has the option to approach the higher court on appeal.
But an attack on a judicial officer's integrity or competence must be done with cogent evidence as a baseless accusation undermines his authority and interferes with the dispensation of justice by him without fear or favour, the high court said.
In May, the high court imposed a sentence of six months of simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.
New Delhi, Sep 3, 4:35PM The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended the six-month imprisonment sentence imposed on a YouTuber who was held guilty of contempt of court over videos that "personally attacked" certain judicial officers and "lowered" the dignity of the judicial system.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu agreed to hear the petition filed by Gulshan Pahuja who has challenged the orders of the Delhi High Court that convicted and sentenced him for having committed criminal contempt of court.
While issuing notice on the plea, the bench said that Pahuja be released from custody.
Pahuja filed the plea in the apex court through advocate Jugul Kishor Gupta.
In April, the Delhi High Court had held him guilty of contempt of court.
It had said that Pahuja's content on his channel 'Fight 4 Judicial Reforms' was not protected as "free speech" under the Constitution.
"He has personally attacked three judicial officers and even imputed that in case a litigant's case is listed before them, such litigant should not expect justice. What is the foundation of such over-sweeping remarks against the judicial officers?" the high court had said.
It had said that no judicial officer is expected to be 100 per cent correct all the time, and a litigant, therefore, has the option to approach the higher court on appeal.
But an attack on a judicial officer's integrity or competence must be done with cogent evidence as a baseless accusation undermines his authority and interferes with the dispensation of justice by him without fear or favour, the high court had said.
In May, the high court imposed a sentence of six months of simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.
