SC asks Sukhbir Badal, Majithia to express remorse for their statements against former judge

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia to express remorse over their statements against former judge Ranjit Singh, who headed a panel probing incidents of sacrilege and police firing in Punjab.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Aravind Kumar, which was hearing an appeal of Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh challenging the dismissal of his plea by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, gave two weeks’ time to both sides while asking the former judge to move on by keeping his ego aside.

The bench told Badal that he has been deputy chief minister of Punjab and expressing remorse will keep him at a higher pedestal.

“You were deputy CM of Punjab and he is a former judge. You both have held higher positions in public life.

“Just see the statements made. It does not look nice. The only way forward is that you should express remorse. Persuade him," the bench told senior advocate Puneet Bali, appearing for both Badal and Majithia.

Bali, along with advocate Nishant Bishnoi, told the bench that they understand what is coming from the court and sought time to convey the message to his clients.

Justice Kumar, voicing a similar view, said, “Expressing remorse will keep you at a higher pedestal.”

The bench also asked senior advocate Nidesh Gupta, appearing for the former judge, to convey the view of the court to him.

“We will only tell you that the higher you go, the ego will go up. You have to keep your ego aside.

"You have to move on. People at the bottom are more flexible in moving on. You have held such higher offices in public life. Just ignore the statements and move on," the bench told Gupta.

It gave both the parties two weeks’ time and asked Gupta to find out whether expressing remorse by Badal and Majithia on their statements was acceptable to the former judge.

In his petition, Justice (retd) Singh challenged the November 8, 2019 verdict of the high court dismissing his complaint under Section 10A of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.

Justice Singh — who was entrusted to head a commission that inquired into various incidents of sacrilege in Punjab between June, 2015 and March, 2017 — alleged that the two SAD leaders spoke about the Commission in "a very derogatory, defamatory and disrespectful manner" bringing the Commission and its chairman into disrepute, which is an offence under 10A of the Act.

Under the section 10-A, if anybody was found to be involved in bringing the Commission or its member to disrepute with defamatory statements, then this offence can be punishable with six months imprisonment or fine or both.

A controversy had arisen at the time after Justice Singh had objected to the way his case was being handled by the high court.

In his petition before the high court, Justice Singh had quoted several incidents in which he found that Badal and Majithia were making "derogatory statements" against him and the Commission.

Notably, the Congress government after coming to power in 2017 had set up the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission to probe sacrilege and police firing incidents, including those that took place during previous SAD-BJP regime in 2015.