The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the petitioners over alleged abusive and scandalous statements posted on social media against Chief Justice and the High-Powered Election Supervisory Committee Chairman Justice (retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia, appointed by the Supreme Court.

The case arose from petitions filed by candidates challenging the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council Election scheduled for May 12, 2026, particularly their disqualification or rejection of nominations on grounds such as holding office-bearer positions or other eligibility issues

During the hearing, the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took serious exception to alleged online conduct linked to the petitioner, including abusive and scandalous remarks against members of the judiciary:

“Why right now we should not issue criminal contempt proceedings against him and get him arrested immediately?..“He has used abusive language… making false, baseless and scandalous allegations against Sudhanshu Dhulia, a judge of the Supreme Court of India, as well as other functionaries. Such conduct does not deserve any indulgence from this Court.”

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and Adv Siddharth R. Gupta, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that they were not representing the individual who made the scandalous remarks, clarifying that he is not a petitioner in the present case. However, the court made it clear that it was not inclined to grant any relaxation in the matter. In its firm stance against any misuse of the legal profession, CJI remarked:

“We will not allow this door to be opened for those who misuse their black robes.”