SC asks F. Nariman, Rohatgi to assist in Katju’s plea against resolutions
The Parliament had condemned Katju's comments calling Mahatma Gandhi a British agent and Subhash Chandra Bose a Japanese agent
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked lawyer Fali S. Nariman and attorney general Mukul Rohatgi to assist the court in relation to former judge Markandey Katju’s challenge to parliamentary resolutions against him.
The two houses of the Parliament, in resolutions adopted in March, had condemned Katju’s comments calling Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi a British agent and Subhash Chandra Bose a Japanese agent. Katju moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash the resolutions.
The court said that through this, a debate will ensue on whether the Parliament can condemn the views of a citizen.
However, the three-judge bench of justices T.S. Thakur, V. Gopala Gowda and R. Banumathi said at first glance, they didn’t see any violation of fundamental right as alleged by Katju. The court also said that in its opinion, no injury to Katju’s reputation has been caused by the resolutions either.
Lawyer Gopal Subramanium, representing Katju, told the court that at an institutional level, such a condemnation led to violation of free speech, liberty and caused injury to his reputation.
He argued that important questions of supremacy of the Indian Constitution and freedom of speech were raised, which required a debate.
The court said that if one put one’s views on a public domain, one had to be prepared for criticism.
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