Attorney General K K Venugopal has refused sanction to initiate contempt proceedings against former Delhi High Court judge S N Dhingra and two others for criticising the Supreme Court over its oral observations against suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma. In a letter, advocate C R Jaya Sukin had sought the AG's consent to initiate criminal contempt of court against Dhingra, Aman Lekhi, former additional solicitor general, and senior advocate K Rama Kumar for calling the top court's observations in Nupur Sharma's case "irresponsible, illegal and unfair".
The AG said in his letter “I have gone through your request seeking consent to initiate proceedings for criminal contempt against Dhingra, Aman Lekhi and K Rama Kumar. I find that the statements made by three are in the realm of fair comment on a hearing conducted by the Supreme Court. He added the statements are not vituperative or abusive nor are they likely to interfere with the administration of justice by the Supreme Court of India. It may be noted that the Supreme Court in a number of judgments has held that fair and reasonable criticism of judicial proceedings would not constitute contempt of court.”
However, a vacation bench of justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala had on July 1 severely reprimanded Nupur for her comment against Prophet Mohammad, saying her "loose tongue" has "set the entire country on fire" and that she was "single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country". Also, refusing to entertain Nupur's plea for clubbing of FIRs lodged in various states against her for the remark, the bench had said that the comment was made either for cheap publicity, political agenda, or some nefarious activities.
