Taking a serious note of seemingly contemptuous remarks made against it on social media, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to 49 people including a Member of Parliament (MP) and a former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an advocate over 'abusive posts' against certain recent judgments of the High Court, it directed that notices be issued to all such people.
Bapatla MP, Nandigam Suresh, former MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan, both belonging to the ruling YSRCP and 47 others were served notices. The court adjourned the hearing by three weeks.
Advocate Lakshmi Narayana, who filed the PIL, said that for the last few days, objectionable posts were uploaded on social media allegedly making abusive comments against judges for certain judgments. The advocate said that he was hurt over the attempts to turn the court into a political platform.
The petitioner said that after the High Court on May 22 ordered a CBI probe into the manhandling of a suspended government doctor by the Visakhapatnam police, several comments were made on social media.
There were more objectionable comments by a section of social media users following judgments on May 22 which were seen as a setback to the YSRCP government. In one case, the court set aside the government order for painting the public buildings in the colour of the ruling party flags and asked the Chief Secretary and two other senior officials to appear before it
In another case, the court set aside the suspension of senior IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao. The government had suspended him for alleged irregularities in procurement of defence equipment.
Criticising these judgments, some people over social media targeted the judges using vulgar language and attributed motives to them, the petitioner claimed.
The High Court received complaints from several advocates and other individuals about abusive posts and demanded action against those responsible for it.
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