One Cannot Malign Judicial Officers By Using Social Media: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by Krishna Kumar Raghuvanshi, challenging the high court judgment in a suo motu criminal contempt case initiated against him for making allegations of corruption against a district judge.

One cannot malign judicial officers by using social media, the Supreme Court observed today while dismissing a plea challenging a Madhya Pradesh High Court order that sentenced a man to 10 days in jail for making corruption allegations against a district judge.

A vacation bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra said it was not inclined to interfere in the matter.

"Just because you don't get a favourable order doesn't mean that you will malign the judicial officer. Independence of (the) judiciary doesn't just mean independence from (the) executive but also from outside forces. This has to be a lesson for others also.  "He should have thought twice before casting any aspersion on the judicial officer. He maligned the judicial officer. Think of the damage done to the judicial officer's image," Justice Trivedi observed orally.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner sought leniency from the Supreme Court and said the imprisonment order was excessive.