SC orders take down of YouTube clip for remarks against SC judge

A bench led by Chief Justice Bhushan R Gavai passed the order in suo motu contempt proceedings against a 150-second video uploaded by Shukla on May 24. The video, aired on his show “The Principle”, discussed a recent ruling by Justice Surya Kant in the case of Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“By an ad-interim order, we restrain YouTube from continuing the publication of the video clip and take it down from the channel,” said the bench, which also comprised justices AG Masih and Atul S Chandurkar. The court directed its registry to institute criminal contempt proceedings against both Shukla and his channel, Varprad Media Pvt. Ltd.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was asked to assist in the matter, told the court: “This is something very serious. We are obliged that the court has taken suo motu cognisance of this.”