SC to hear contempt petition against Modi next week

In fresh trouble for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear next week a plea which sought initiation....

In fresh trouble for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear next week a plea which sought initiation of contempt proceedings against him for his alleged scandalous remarks against the judiciary,particularly the apex court,recently.

Only few days back,the apex court had ordered the Special Investigation Team to inquire into a complaint of Zakia Jafri,the wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri,in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. Reacting to this,Modi made public statements a day later that the probe against him was ordered by the Supreme Court as the result of a conspiracy involving the Congress-led Government at the Centre.

The application referred to his statements wherein he had alleged that the courts order had been passed in a malafide manner in conspiracy with Kapil Sibal,a minister in the Congress Government who had said 15 days ago that Modi would have to go to jail. And then came the courts order,he had alleged.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan,whos assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter of Zakia Jafri, mentioned the matter before the Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan,claiming Modi had committed gross contempt of court.

Seeking the courts urgent intervention,the advocate urged the Bench,also comprising Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal,to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against the CM or else he would be encouraged in the future also to malign the judiciary and the apex court.

The contempt petition also referred to a subsequent advertisement which had claimed that efforts were on to send Modi to jail while a clean chit would be given to Ottavio Quattrocchi,the accused in the Bofors case. The state BJP in Gujarat came out with full-page ads in almost all state newspapers,making the same allegations of conspiracy between the Congress and the Supreme Court and appealing to voters to save him by voting in favour of the BJP,the petition added.

Zakia,in her complaint,had accused the Gujarat Government of not entertaining her complaint relating to Jafri,who was killed in the 2002 riots in the infamous Gulbarg Society massacre.