A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court consisting of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and K. Vijaya Lakshmi asked Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) N. Harinath as to what steps were taken to investigate the cases booked against persons, including some holding Constitutional posts, who are abroad, for allegedly making unwarranted allegations against the judiciary and Judges last year.
During a hearing of the suo motu PIL filed against such individuals for posting life threatening and intimidating messages on the social media against Judges and making objectionable comments in interviews given to electronic media, on Wednesday, Justice Bagchi and Justice Vijaya Lakshmi asked the ASG to assist them by submitting details of the nodal officers of various social media platforms.
The court received an interim report from the CBI, to which the FIRs were entrusted for investigation. The CBI requested three months’ additional time for making further submissions. The court also wanted help from counsels in finding a way to curb the abusing of Judges and holding out threats to them. The matter has been posted to October 28 for next hearing.
In their order dated October 12, 2020, a Division Bench comprising Justices Rakesh Kumar and J. Uma Devi had made a serious observation that persons occupying high posts were waging a war against the judicial system in the State and it would create unnecessary doubts in the minds of the public on the judiciary leading to crippling of the entire system.
The Judges had pointed out that such acts could be dealt with under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and persons having faith in the system could be deterred, but the fact remained that it was not enough to deter such malefactors in making allegations against the judiciary and Judges, hence their decision to hand over the investigation to CBI to probe the complaints lodged by the High Court registry.
Several individuals, including senior leaders of the ruling YSR Congress Party, had allegedly attributed motives to the Judges for verdicts given by them in different cases and allegedly passed disparaging remarks, which resulted in the High Court invoking its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.
