Acting on a plea submitted by the Supreme Court Bar Association, Attorney General R. Venkataramani has formally accorded statutory consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut and journalist Nikhil Wagle. The permission was granted under Section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Following this authorization from the country's senior-most law officer, the route has been cleared for formal judicial hearings against both individuals before the highest court.
Derogatory Social Media Post and Unconditional Apology
The controversy first erupted over a statement published on social media platform X. On October 11, Nikhil Wagle deployed offensive and unparliamentary language aimed directly at the Chief Justice of India. The background to this post involved leaders from the INDIA bloc, who had sought an appointment with the Chief Justice prior to staging a planned protest march to the Supreme Court, a meeting request that was turned down by the CJI.
Quoting a news report covering this refusal, Wagle posted his harsh remarks online. However, once the Supreme Court Bar Association took serious objection and approached the authorities with a contempt plea, Wagle took down the offending post. Subsequently, on October 15, he addressed a written communication to the Attorney General tendering an unconditional apology to both the Chief Justice of India and the apex court. Despite that apology, regulatory scrutiny over the incident has moved forward into formal judicial oversight.
The London Badminton Claim and High Court Clarification
The second pillar of the controversy centers on remarks made to the press on October 12 by Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut. During his interaction, Raut alleged that between 60 and 70 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, had been spotted playing badminton alongside Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in London. The legal fraternity quickly contested the veracity of this allegation.
In its petition, the Supreme Court Bar Association drew attention to a ruling delivered by the Delhi High Court on June 19, which effectively debunked the claim. The High Court's findings showed that the viral images of judges playing badminton were not captured in London at all, but originated from a sports event held in New Delhi during November 2024. Legal representatives maintained that circulating these outdated pictures under a fabricated narrative was a deliberate attempt to cast doubt upon the institutional independence of the higher judiciary.
Assessment by the Attorney General and Next Judicial Steps
In his formal consent letter, Attorney General R. Venkataramani evaluated both statements as direct assaults on judicial dignity. He explicitly recorded that Nikhil Wagle's remarks were not only disparaging but reflected an exceptionally poor standard of discourse. Turning to Sanjay Raut's assertions concerning judges attending political events, the Attorney General characterized them as entirely unsubstantiated, misleading, and devoid of factual backing.
The Attorney General observed that both actions are prima facie objectionable and clearly intended to lower the authority and public standing of the Supreme Court, particularly targeting the office of the Chief Justice of India. While obtaining the Attorney General's approval does not constitute an automatic determination of guilt, it empowers the Supreme Court to conduct a formal trial to decide appropriate legal consequences for impairing constitutional decorum.
