Suryaa National Desk: Criminal contempt proceedings are set to be initiated against Ratna Singh, the head of legal affairs for the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), following social media posts regarding a Saket court judge. Amal Sinha, Additional Standing Counsel for the Delhi government, has granted consent to initiate these proceedings under Section 15(2) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.
The issue originated after Ratna Singh filed a petition before Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Abhinav Pandey at Saket Court, alleging illegal detention by Delhi Police. On October 10, the judge declined to grant the relief requested in the petition. Following the ruling, Singh posted several comments on the platform X (formerly Twitter). In these posts, she alleged that the judge was serving a "master," took multiple breaks during proceedings, and issued orders without applying the law. She further alleged that both the Delhi Police and the judge were acting under the instructions of a "master."
The government counsel stated that while questioning court orders legally or critically is permissible, making unsubstantiated public allegations that a judge is acting under the influence of external authorities undermines the judiciary. It was noted that such allegations risk eroding public trust in the judicial system and constitute contempt of court.
The counsel distinguished these remarks from other comments made by CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka regarding police detention, noting that the latter were criticisms of police conduct. However, the posts targeting the judicial magistrate were deemed to be intentionally disparaging to the court.
With the approval of the government counsel, a criminal contempt petition is expected to be filed in the Delhi High Court. The High Court will independently examine whether the posts undermined the authority of the court before reaching a final decision.