Plea for Contempt Proceedings Against Swara Bhasker Made to A-G

Petition argues that Bhasker’s comments in Mumbai about the Supreme Court scandalised the court.

A petition has been filed before Attorney-General of India KK Venugopal, asking for the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against actress Swara Bhasker.

The petition alleges that Bhasker ‘scandalised the court’ – the same ground of contempt on which Prashant Bhushan was convicted by the Supreme Court on 14 August – when she allegedly said that “courts are not sure if they believe in the Constitution” in remarks made at a Mumbai conference in February 2020.

According to the petition, the objectionable part of Bhasker’s statement was as follows:

“We are now in a situation where our courts are not sure whether they believe in the Constitution or not... We are living in a country were the Supreme Court of our country states in a judgment that the demolition of Babri masjid was unlawful and in the same judgment rewards the same people who brought down the mosque...”