Supreme Court Hearing: Hearing a plea by a West Bengal political commentator seeking protection from arrest in connection with multiple FIRs lodged for alleged objectionable comments against the Assamese people, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 30) said, “Leaders “Must be thick skinned (i.e. unaffected by people’s comments).”
A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sanjay Karol, while hearing the petition of a political commentator from West Bengal, said that these days even judges should ignore the comments made against them in letters and interviews.
…we judges also need to be alert- Justice BR Gavai
Justice BR Gavai said, “Leaders should have thick skin. Nowadays, we judges also need to be cautious regarding letters and interviews. If we start listening to them, we will not be able to work.”
Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal and advocate Ashutosh Dubey, appearing for political commentator Garg Chatterjee, told the bench that he had made some comments on Twitter (now X) in 2020. Aggarwal said that several FIRs have been registered against him in Assam and West Bengal, which need to be clubbed together and transferred to a neutral state for further investigation.
The petitioner had sought a public apology in 2020 – Advocate
Referring to the comments of then Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Agarwal said that he had ordered the arrest of Chatterjee, after which he was arrested. “On August 19, 2020, the petitioner tendered a public apology for his remarks that hurt the sentiments of the people of Assam,” he said.
The bench asked him whether he was granted bail or not? Aggarwal said that bail was granted and he was granted protection from arrest by this court on September 9, 2022 in connection with the FIRs lodged in West Bengal and Assam. After this, the bench listed the matter for final hearing on a non-circular day and asked to complete the arguments.