Before the year ends, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju wants to end the contempt case pending against him in the apex court.
On Friday, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan appeared for the retired judge and requested a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi to take up the contempt case for hearing before court break for vacation on December 16.
Justice Gogoi told Dhavan that the appropriate bench will consider the request if a proper application is filed in this regard. Dhavan informed that the application had been filed and it should be taken up before the winter break. The bench failed to give an assurance as it decided to take up the application as and when it got listed.
Katju faced the ire of the Court for airing faults committed by the apex court judges in a recent case where a man accused of rape and murder of a Kerala girl was acquitted of the heinous murder charge. Since the incident took place in a moving train, the former judge used words referring to the poor knowledge and understanding of the judges to appreciate evidence in the case. The bench headed by Justice Gogoi invited Katju to share his views in open court on November 11 during the hearing of a review petition filed by the victim’s mother and the Kerala Government.
After the hearing got over, the Court confronted Katju with his blog posts showing “intemperate” language” used against judges and issued contempt notice against him for “scandalizing” the judges in question. This took Katju by surprise. He scoffed on being treated in this manner and dared the judges to proceed against him.