Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has warned social media users against hurling online abuses directed at the judiciary that “go beyond the defence of fair comment or informed criticism of a judgment”. The court has warned of strict contempt action against these people.The high court noted with grave concern that, under the guise of freedom of expression, instances of criminal contempt are currently galore on social media. The court said that such virtual abuses cross the line of permissible free speech. Hearing a criminal contempt plea on Feb 24, a division bench of Justices JJ Munir and Pramod Kumar Srivastava added that if the court takes cognizance of such posts in contempt jurisdiction, the same will attract strict legal consequences. “We do wish to remind the public to be cautious in future, because words that are most unambiguously contumacious, circulate on the social media,” the court said, adding that these may invite penalties if taken cognizance of. The occasion to make these observations occurred when the advocate appearing for the high court submitted that the commission of criminal contempt of court has become “the order of the day”. The court noted in its order that the concern raised by the high court counsel was certainly not misplaced and had a lot of wisdom in it. The court said that while it was not taking judicial notice of the issue because that would have consequences, it was paying judicial attention to the instances of criminal contempt which galore on social media.
