SC Turns Down Contempt Plea against Sudarshan News Editor, Mr. Suresh Chavhanke

On Thursday, in the Supreme Court, Justice DY Chandrachud refused to accept a plea for taking suo moto contempt action against Mr. Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-Chief of the Sudarshan TV, for his tweets after the court passed the order to sojourn the broadcast of his show ‘Bindas Bol’.

The bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and Justice Indu Malhotra adjourned the main matter till 12 noon on Friday under the administrative orders of the Chief Justice of India, permitting the formation of the bench on Friday. (As the bench is not sitting otherwise tomorrow) Senior Advocate Shyam Dewan submitted that the channel has filed its counter affidavit and requested for early consideration of the matter as the broadcast has been stopped.

Senior advocate Anoop Chaudhary, on behalf of the petitioner Feroz Iqbal Khan, said that he has filed a petition against Chavanke for contempt of court against his tweet in response to the court order as his tweet in response to the court order “Abusive “.

The Supreme Court on 15 September barred the channel from telecasting the remaining episodes of the show after first commenting that it was intended to “stigmatize the Muslim community”. A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud remarked that a fraudulent attempt to humiliate a community and said that a Constitutional Court cannot allow any community to be tainted in a pluralistic society.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice KM Joseph was hearing a petition filed against the telecast of the show organized by the channel’s chief editor Suresh Chavanke on the grounds that it communalized the entry of Muslims into the UPSC Have been. The channel claimed in its counter-affidavit that it was doing “investigative journalism” in view of funding Muslim groups from training centres for groups belonging to terrorist organizations from abroad.

By Priya Kumari