New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (April 22) agreed to list a plea seeking the removal of social media posts and videos of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s remarks against Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna.

While a letter to attorney general of India R. Venkatramani by advocate on record Anas Tanwir seeking sanction to initiate contempt proceedings against the parliamentarian awaits response, the Supreme Court Bar Association has also condemned the BJP MP’s remarks.

“This has never happened. The MP has said CJI Khanna is responsible for the civil wars in India,” LiveLaw quoted advocate Narendra Mishra as saying in the Supreme Court on Tuesday before a bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai.

“After the speech went viral, social media is using tag phrases for SC ‘this is a k***a’ … ‘this is regulated by Shariah’ … letters were given to attorney general and solicitor general … no action being taken by government! Please give direction to social media to remove videos.”

On Saturday, amid a growing confrontation between the executive and the judiciary set off by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s denouncement of the Supreme Court, Dubey had said that the CJI was responsible for “all civil wars in the country”, and the Supreme Court for “religious wars”.

BJP president and Union minister J.P. Nadda sought to distance the party from the remarks and said that it “has nothing to do” with such statements on the judiciary and the CJI.

Nadda did not say whether any action would be taken against Dubey.

Mishra on behalf of the petitioner said that letters had been sent to the attorney general and the solicitor general but no action had been taken.

“It is hurting the court … government is not taking any action … this is different [from] old times … [the] video [is] viral all over India," he was quoted as saying.

Justice Gavai directed that the matter be listed next week.

Meanwhile, the attorney general is yet to respond to the letter sent by Supreme Court advocate on record Tanwir seeking his sanction to initiate contempt proceedings against the four-time BJP MP.

In his letter, Tanwir had written that contempt proceedings should be initiated against Dubey for his “grossly scandalous” and “misleading” statements aimed at “lowering the dignity and authority” of the Supreme Court.

Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court Bar Association condemned Dubey’s remarks and said that they were “not only defamatory but also [amount] to contempt of the Supreme Court”.

“This attack on the Supreme Court as an institution and qua the Chief Justice of India Mr Justice Sanjiv Khanna as an individual is unacceptable and must be dealt with in accordance with law,” the association said.

It added that it hoped that the attorney general will “grant consent to protect the dignity of the institution and the dignity of the Chief Justice of India”.

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