Author: Press Trust News
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 27, 2001
The Supreme Court today issued notices
to Narmada Bachao Andolan leaders Medha Patkar and Booker prize winner
Arundhati Roy on a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings
against them for staging demonstration before the apex court and allegedly
using derogatory language to lower the dignity of the court.
A division Bench comprising Justice
G B Pattanaik and Justice B N Agrawal also issued notice to the counsel
for NBA, Prashant Bhushan, on the allegation that he had led the rally
before the Supreme Court gate on December 13.
The NBA activists had staged a dharna
before a gate of the court to protest the judgement giving clearance to
the Narmada Dam project.
The petitioner advocates led by
J R Parashar alleged that when they intervened during the rally dissuading
the activists to desist from using abusive language, they were assaulted.
Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee,
whose assistance the court had sought, said that one could ignore the general
conduct of the protestors but if the language alleged to have been used
in shouting slogans was true, it prima facie constituted contempt of court.
He, however, said that he wanted
to be excused from the case but added that one of the law officers would
assist the court in this case.
The Court on October 18 had given
green signal for construction of the controversial Sardar Sarovar Dam on
the Narmada river up to a height of 138 metres as per the Narmada Water
Disputs Tribunal Award.
