The Delhi Government’s Additional Standing Counsel (Criminal), Amol Sinha, has granted consent for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) legal affairs head Ratna Singh over her social media posts criticising a judicial officer of the Saket Courts.
It was found that the posts prima facie attracted Section 2(c)(i) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, which deals with publications that scandalise or tend to scandalise, or lower or tend to lower, the authority of a court. The consent has been granted under Section 15(2) of the Act, enabling the competent law officer to move the Delhi High Court for initiation of proceedings.
The matter stems from proceedings before Chief Judicial Magistrate Abhinav Pandey of the South-East District, Saket Courts. Ratna Singh had approached the court seeking registration of an FIR against police personnel who allegedly detained her on October 10 while she was attempting to join CJP protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. She had also sought relief against her alleged detention. The court declined the relief.
Following the order, Ratna Singh posted on X:
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“Judge serving the master. Went for break/meeting 4 times during entire hearing. Order without any application of law.”
In another post, she stated:
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“@DelhiPolice is following order from master. Judge is following order from master.”
Advocate Kausik Chatterjee had sought contempt action against Ratna Singh through representations dated October 14 and October 28.
Additional Standing Counsel Amol Sinha opined that Ratna Singh’s remarks prima facie suggested that the judicial officer was acting under external instructions, potentially undermining public confidence in judicial independence. He clarified that his opinion was limited to a prima facie assessment and did not determine guilt. He also distinguished her criticism of the police and the Special Executive Magistrate system, noting that such criticism would not, by itself, amount to criminal contempt.