Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court on Friday (May 30) initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against a digital journalist named Ajay Shukla for making "scathing and scandalous" observations about a senior judge of the Supreme Court.

The Court also directed YouTube to take down the video of Ajay Shukla, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Varprad Media.

Taking suo motu cognisance of Shukla's video, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice AG Masih and Justice AS Chandurkar observed :

"Such scandalous allegations widely published are likely to bring disrepute to the august institution of the judiciary. No doubt the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. But this freedom is subject to reasonable restrictions. A person cannot be permitted to make allegations which are in the nature of defaming a judge of this Court and also contemptuous in nature, which attempts to bring disrepute to the institution of the judiciary."

The Court asked the Registry to register the matter as a suo motu contempt case and issue notice to Shukla.

Attorney General for India R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta were requested to assist the Court. SG thanked the Court for its suo motu action.

Although the bench did not specify who the judge was against whom allegations were made, it may be noted that Shukla recently posted a video making remarks against Justice Bela M Trivedi.

Shukla has been the Editor-in-Chief of Varprad Media for over 3 years now. Varprad Media is based in Chandigarh.

Case details :IN RE: SCANDALOUS REMARKS MADE BY MR. AJAY SHUKLA, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, VARPRAD MEDIA PVT. LTD., A DIGITAL CHANNEL vs. SMC(Crl) No. 000001 / 2025