Attorney General declines permission to initiate contempt proceedings against Tripura's CM Biplab Deb

The Attorney General of India KK Venugopal has refused to grant consent to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Tripura's Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb for his remarks allegedly made against the authority of courts.

Advocate Abu Sohel had sought Attorney General's permission for contempt action against Deb. Both the High Court of Tripura as well as the Advocate General of the State had earlier declined to initiate contempt action against Deb.

Deb had allegedly commented that officials need not fear contempt of court and that the Chief Minister was in charge of the police, however, after the controversy, he issued a statement that his speech was twisted and wrongly reported to project a disregard for the judiciary.

Attorney General in his response to Sohel said that extracts submitted of Deb's statements were "deplorable and wholly uncalled for", however, he pointed out that even the High Court had declined to take action against Deb after accepting the submission that the Chief Minister's comments were misquoted and that he has the highest regard for the judiciary.

The Attorney General on October 2 stated, "According to the reports, the request for initiating contempt proceedings, made by members of the Bar, was not acceded to by the (Tripura High) Court. The Bench presided over by the Chief Justice accepted the statement of the Chief Minister made on social media, the screenshot of which was shown to the Court. As a result, the Court refused to list the case for contempt, and the matter was closed."Declining to grant consent for the initiation of contempt proceedings against Deb, Venugopal said, "I am sure you would appreciate that, in view of the fact that the High Court has accepted the statement made by the Chief Minister that he was misquoted and that he has the highest respect for the judiciary, it would not be appropriate for me to grant consent for initiating contempt proceedings. I, therefore, decline consent for the reasons stated."

( With inputs from ANI )