The Supreme Court on Friday (May 30, 2025) took suo motu cognisance of “scandalous, contemptuous and defamatory” remarks made by Ajay Shukla, through his YouTube channel, about a senior judge of the apex court.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, A.G. Masih and A.S. Chandurkar said in a short order that such remarks brought the institution of judiciary into disrepute.
Chief Justice Gavai said free speech was subject to reasonable restrictions, and making defamatory and contemptuous comments about a sitting Supreme Court judge cannot be protected in the name of freedom of expression.
Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta were present in the court room.
Mr. Mehta said the comments were grave in nature and he was glad the court has taken cognisance of them. It was he who suggested to the Bench to additionally describe Mr. Shukla’s comments as “defamatory and contemptuous”.
It directed the “taking down” of the social media post with immediate effect.
Mr. Shukla’s YouTube channel had posted a video on Supreme Court judge, Justice Bela M. Trivedi, recently. Justice Trivedi is retiring on June 9.
The court issued notice to Mr. Shukla, who is editor-in-chief of the Varprad Media Pvt Ltd, a digital channel hosted on YouTube.
The Bench scheduled the suo motu contempt case after the vacations, possibly in July.
Published – May 30, 2025 01:45 pm IST
