AG declines consent for contempt proceedings against Owaisi

New Delhi: Attorney General K KVenugopal has declined to give his consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against AIMIM president AsaduddinOwaisi for his remarks that an inquiry commission had observed V D Savarkar was complicit in Mahatma Gandhi's murder.

A think tank had written to the AG seeking his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Owaisi for his remarks.

Venugopal said it is true that the judgment of the top court also notes the fact that Savarkar has been found not guilty of Gandhiji's murder in the criminal trial.

However, if one reads the judgement as a whole, it is clear that the court was disinclined to go into the findings of the Justice Kapoor Commission of Inquiry, the AG said.

"I may also point out that Justice Kapoor has retired as a judge of the Supreme Court in the year 1962, and hence was a retired judge when he was appointed as Commission of Inquiry in 1966. The statement made by Owaisi is relatable, therefore, to the finding of Justice Kapoor Commission and not the Supreme Court.

"It would therefore be difficult to hold that he has committed contempt of the Supreme Court by suggesting and/or implying that a sitting judge of the Supreme Court had held that Savarkar was complicit in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, which is completely contrary to factual reality. I am therefore constrained to decline consent for initiation of contempt proceedings against Owaisi," the AG in his reply dated October 26 said.