Abusive content on social media lowering majesty of the court: Andhra Pradesh High Court

Judge bashing has become a favourite pastime of some people, the Andhra Pradesh High Court observed on Friday while directing YouTube to block a channel named Punch Prabhakar run by a man based in the US (The High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amravati v State of Andhra Pradesh and ors)..The Court also asked its Registrar General to forward all URLs/IDs of other derogatory content to the intermediaries which have to remove the same within 36 hours.The directions came from the bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Lalitha Kanneganti while hearing a suo motu contempt petition initiated last year to deal with the wild, defamatory, baseless and untenable statements being made against the judges.The Court had last year directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate these posts and to find out whether it was part of a conspiracy. The Court last week expressed its displeasure over the CBI investigation as it informed that Prabhakar is a resident of the USA and efforts are being made to catch hold of him through the FBI but so far no personal information could be gathered about him.“The CBI is considered to be a premier investigating agency of the country. The Courts in India hold CBI as an organization in high esteem. It is important that it should never give the impression that its working is lopsided. In spite of orders passed by this Court on a number of occasions, neither there is development in the investigation nor efforts are made to remove the abusive content. We feel, attention from the top level is warranted. Hence, an affidavit shall be filed by the Director, CBI as to what has transpired from December, 2020, what are the efforts made by CBI and the future course of action,” it noted..The judges also observed that the abusive content on social media has gone out of bounds which is lowering the majesty of the court. “Judge bashing and using derogatory and contemptuous language against Judges has become a favourite pastime of some people. These statements tend to scandalize and lower the authority of the Courts and cannot be permitted because, for the function of democracy, an independent judiciary to dispense justice without fear and favour is paramount… Judiciary should not be reduced to the position of flies in the hands of wanton boys. Judge bashing is not and cannot be a substitute for constructive criticism," the Court said..The Court meanwhile has also said that if there is any difficulty on the side of the intermediaries to remove the content within 36 hours, it shall be brought to the notice of the Registrar General who shall continue to inform them of the derogatory content wherever they are found and brought to his notice.The Court will now hear the matter on Tuesday.