SC tells journalist to remove YouTube video containing allegations about judge
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered journalist and YouTuber Ajay Shukla to remove a video in which he made “scandalous allegations” about a judge, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench headed by Chief Justice BR Gavai initiated contempt proceedings on its own motion against Shukla, the editor-in-chief of Varprad Media, and issued a notice to him.
While the court did not explicitly name the judge about whom the allegations were made, Shukla had on May 18 uploaded a video on his YouTube channel “The Principle” about the retirement of Justice Bela M Trivedi, describing her as a “godi judge”, or a pro-government judge.
While Trivedi is officially slated to retire on June 9, her last working day was May 16.
The term “godi judge” is similar to “godi media”, or lapdog media – a phrase popularised by journalist Ravish Kumar to describe pro-Bharatiya Janata Party media outlets.
The bench on Friday said that “such scandalous allegations widely published are likely to bring disrepute to the august institution of the judiciary” and remarked that the freedom of expression is subject to “reasonable restrictions”.
“A person cannot be permitted to make allegations which are in the nature of defaming a judge of this Court and also contemptuous in nature, which attempts to bring disrepute to the institution of the judiciary,”...
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