The Allahabad High Court has come down heavily on a magistrate in Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh for initiating proceedings on sedition charges against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his comments on the Supreme Court verdict striking down the NJAC Act saying, he had committed a “manifest illegality”.
“....this Court is of the firm opinion that none of the ingredients essential for invoking the provisions of Sections 124A or 505 of the Penal Code stood attracted to the article in question.
“The magistrate has committed a manifest illegality in forming an opinion that an offence under the above provisions stood prima facie committed,” Justice J Yashwant Varma said in a 17-page order setting aside the order passed by Ankit Goel, Judical Magistrate of Kulpahar, Mahoba district.
Taking suo motu cognisance of an article written by Jaitley on the apex court striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and posted on his Facebook page titled “NJAC Judgement-An Alternative View”, the magistrate proceeded to summon Jaitley under sections 124A (sedition) and 505 (statements conducive to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
The magistrate recorded that no citizen has a right to disrespect the three pillars of democracy-Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary–and then proceeded to record an order of a Court can be questioned only by following a procedure prescribed by law.
He had also held that the comments of the finance minister “undoubtedly spread hatred and contempt against a duly-elected government and accordingly, in his opinion, the applicant prima facie appears to have committed offences under Section 124A and 505 IPC.