Supreme Court stays contempt proceedings against Arundhati Roy

The Supreme Court stayed all proceedings against author and social activist Arundhati Roy on Monday, facing a contempt plea before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court for an article in an English magazine on Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba.

The bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud stayed the proceedings before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court after it was told that the matter was initiated by a lawyer.

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had issued notice to Arundhati Roy on a contempt plea by the advocate who had contended that Roy's piece was interference in the administration of justice.

Roy in her article had said: "So afraid is the government of this paralysed wheelchair-bound academic (Saibaba) that the Maharashtra Police had to abduct him for arrest."

Saibaba was arrested by the Maharashtra Police in May 2015 for alleged links with an alleged front organisation of the banned CPI-Maoist.

The Supreme Court had on April 4, 2016 granted bail to Saibaba.