HC declines to initiate contempt proceedings against actor Suriya for NEET remark

The Madras High Court on Friday refused to initiate contempt proceedings against actor Suriya for his comments that courts have forced students to attend NEET exams while judges were dishing out justice through video conferencing in times of Covid-19.

However, the first bench of the High Court including Chief Justice A P Sahi and Justice J Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said that the remarks by Suriya on the judiciary “may have been absolutely unnecessary or even unwarranted for being ignorant” of the way judiciary served the citizens during the pandemic.

Justice S M Subramaniam, a judge of the High Court, had sought initiation of contempt proceedings against Suriya contending that the actor’s remarks on the judiciary have not just undermined the Judicial System but criticised it in a bad shape. A group of former judges had written to the Chief Justice asking him not to proceed against the actor.

In a 28-page order authored by Justice Sahi, the bench concurred with the views of Advocate-General Vijay Narayan who opined that contempt proceedings need not be initiated against Suriya. The actor, in a statement issued on Sunday with regard to the conduct of NEET exams, had criticised the courts for asking students to come to a center to write the exam even while judges were rendering justice through video conferencing for the “fear of life.”

“We would like to draw the curtain on these proceedings with a fond hope that the entire judicial system that fosters on the faith of the public at large should be the concern of everyone to preserve it in our endeavor to deliver justice… This matter, therefore, in our judicious discretion does not deserve to be pursued further and we entirely agree with the opinion expressed by the learned Advocate General,” the bench said in its order.

Quoting Lord Denning and philosophers like Socrates, the judges took pains to explain how the Judiciary “was not sitting idle” and was itself on trial during this pandemic. “The Judges of the High Court, of the Subordinate Judiciary, the entire staff and all stakeholders have served to the best of the capacity of the institution. This is not self-praise, but to state our humble performance of duty,” the bench said.

It also asked individuals to carefully frame their minds and express themselves that may not cross the borders of any fair and just criticism.

“On the other hand, it is not the job of a constitutional Court to use a sledgehammer for the avoidance of something which can be perceived to be not capable of even being propped up as a contempt, much less debated to the level of criminal contempt,” the bench added.