SC closes contempt case after YouTuber apologizes

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday closed the “suo motu contempt” proceedings filed against YouTuber Ajay Shukla, who had offered an unconditional apology for making “defamatory” remarks against a former Supreme Court judge.A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma decided to accept Shukla’s apology and end proceedings against him, but warned him not to make the same mistake in the future. “Any recurrence of the conduct or complaint will have serious consequences,” the court said.Shukla had made scandalous allegations against former Supreme Court judge Justice Bela M. Trivedi on his YouTube channel “The Principle”, leading to the initiation of contempt proceedings by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on May 30 last year.“There is no doubt that the Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression; however, at the same time, this right is subject to reasonable restrictions. No one shall be allowed to make allegations defaming a judge of this or any other court and making allegations of a contemptuous nature in an attempt to bring disrepute to the judiciary,” the court said.