Attorney General consents to initiation of criminal contempt against YouTuber for comments against SC, judges

Attorney General K K Venugopal on Tuesday accorded his consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against YouTuber Ajeet Bharti for his alleged "scurrilous" remarks in one of his videos against the Supreme Court and its judges.

"I find that the contents of the video which has been watched by about 1.7 lakh viewers are vituperative, gross and highly derogatory to the Supreme Court of India and the judiciary as a whole being clearly intended to denigrate the courts.

“The allegations made by Mr Ajeet Bharti against the Supreme Court are, among other things, of bribery, favouritism and abuse of power," the top law officer said in his letter of consent.

Kritika Singh, a lawyer, had written to Venugopal seeking grant of consent under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, a condition precedent for initiating the criminal contempt by a person, other than the court.

She had referred to some alleged objectionable comments of Bharti against the top court and its judges in his video of June 24 this year.