Contempt power to protect rights of people, not court’s dignity: HC

PANAJI: Stating that the shoulders of its institution are “broad enough to shrug off such scurrilous allegations”, the HC of Bombay at Goa has declined to punish a man who allegedly made allegations on social media against the judiciary.
A bench comprising chief justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Sonak stated that the power to punish for contempt “is to be only sparingly exercised, not to protect the dignity of the court against insult or injury, but to protect and vindicate the right of the people so that the administration of justice is not perverted, prejudiced, obstructed, or interfered with”.
The bench held that the dignity and authority of its judicial institutions are “neither dependent on the opinions allegedly expressed by David Clever, nor can the dignity of our institution and its officers be tarnished by such stray slights or irresponsible content”.
The court made these comments in a petition filed by Kashinath Shetye stating that Clever, who is possibly based in the UK, committed criminal contempt of court by making false and scurrilous allegations against some judicial officers of the district judiciary, and uploading the content on Youtube and WhatsApp.
“Such content, allegedly uploaded by David Clever, is best treated with contempt, rather than in contempt, particularly since David Clever has neither bothered to cite any specific instances nor bothered to lodge any complaints backed by even prima facie, credible material,” said the HC. “The inquiries made on our administrative side revealed the irresponsibility of the comments and the possible use of the uploader as a front by some disgruntled litigants. To take this matter any further might only serve to feed the publicity craze of those that have uploaded this content to provoke, rather than out of some concern to bring to the fore some genuine grievance concerning the administration of justice in Goa.”