S. Prabakaran [Senior Advocate] support sms j THE TAMIL NADU ADVOCATE’S ASSOCIATION (TNAA) strongly condemns the statement issued by Actor Surya and to take note of his conduct of undermining the constitutional functionaries. 1. Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.M. Subramanian, known for his Judgments of greater Public Importance

To:
1. The Hon’ble Chief Justice Date:14.09.2020
Madras High Court Place: Chennai
Chennai – 600104.

2. The Hon’ble Companion Judges of Madras High Court
Madras High Court
Chennai – 600104.

SUBJECT: THE TAMIL NADU ADVOCATE’S ASSOCIATION (TNAA) strongly condemns the statement issued by Actor Surya and to take note of his conduct of undermining the constitutional functionaries.
1. Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.M. Subramanian, known for his Judgments of greater Public Importance and a Equity Judge was much pained because of an article and a news statement which was under circulation for the past two days has referred the particular article/statement by a Tamil actor namely Mr.Surya son of Mr.Shivakumar who criticized the functioning of judiciary at this COVID -19 period.

2. Reading the letter of Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.M. Subramanian, it was understood by us that this Actor by criticizing the Administration and Judicial Functioning has brought down the reputation of the Judiciary under the publicity of media by the said Actor. The statement issued by the said actor with intention to BAN NEET Examinations is a matter subjudiced before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the Hon’ble Supreme Court was issuing guidelines periodically to conduct examinations in order to bring equality among the students in the entire country.

3. Though, the NEET examinations are still monitored by the Supreme Court, Several States have made representations by filing applications before the Hon’ble Apex Court of India with regard to conduct of exams online. The Supreme Court gave certain explanations while rejecting the plea of Online and the need of Offline Examinations. This particular statement by interfering with the process and functioning of Judicial discretion is a criminal contempt and the judicial functioning is beyond the scope of anybody to comment and the courts have judicially pronounced orders and the same is agreed by all the persons concerned and the stake holders involved.

4. The said actor popularly claimed media publicity and he has now crossed the borders and did not know where to stop it, but commented the administration and functioning of Judiciary and extended his hate speech even commenting on the functioning of judges.

5. The Hon’ble Judges right from the day of Covid-19, when the lockdown was announced on 24.03.2020 started its instant functioning through so many websites in order to deliver justice without any hindrance for the public. As many as cases have been dealt by the Hon’ble High Court of Madras and the Hon’ble Supreme Court delivered judgments in number of cases by upholding justice system. The intentions of the Courts were concerns about the citizens of India by saving the Majesty of Fundamental Rights. Not only Urgent matters, the courts have also taken regular matters and dispersed the Justice. Any manner commenting the functions of judicial system is highly condemnable and the actor has no right to criticize or downgrade the Justice delivery system. It is not a drama or a cinema dialogue to speak whatever he feels, it is about the integrity of the country and any hate speech against the functioning of judges and judicial system is a contempt described under Contempt of Courts Act. Off course, the statement of the Actor Surya is a contempt of court and he is liable to be prosecuted under the act.

6. Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.M. Subramanian has also followed the Judicial Discipline by forwarding the article/statement to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Madras High Court and brought to the notice to all the Judges concerned in order to initiate appropriate criminal contempt against the said actor Surya. This is what the procedure, even the Hon’ble Judges of this country follow, so as to judges it binds on every person who approaches the Temple of Justice. The citizens of India are safeguarded only by the courts by upholding the rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. The criticizing statement of the actor would certainly downgrade the fame of the esteemed institution and its stakeholders who uphold the fundamental rights guaranteed to each and every citizen.

7. The Criticizing statement issued by the actor would not stop there at all; it has lead to debate on various sections of people and the reason for debate primarily because of the statement of the actor Mr. Surya. Otherwise, there is no issue regarding the functioning of Justice System in this COVID-19 period because Justice is delivered everyday without any break or delay. As said above, in this COVID-19 situation however, whatever and whenever required the judicial setup delivered the judgments which were also remarkable and the exercise the judges took with much pain by subjecting themselves to all check-ups and medications issued under Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by every courts concerned. All the judges in Madras High Court and the Madurai Bench were functioning on all the days with much precaution from the pandemic disease. Court staffs were physically present in the registry and were delivering excellent results in order to uphold the functioning of judiciary, there cannot be any comment or ciriticization against the system.

8. I am wondering what does the actor Surya does knows about the functioning of Judiciary instead of acting in movies and reciting scripts written by scriptwriters. Even the political parties and the government concerned have not criticized the functioning of the courts and they have been fighting only in courts against the examinations and they are bound by the decisions of the court and much less every citizen is bound by the decisions of the Hon’ble Court. But the said actor being a citizen at first should know the courtesy towards his speech and respect to the judiciary because the Judicial System is the ultimate even in pre-independence and post- independence. This system has only safeguarded the fundamental rights of every citizen and Mr.Surya is one among the citizen who is enjoying the fundamental rights but commenting on the system through which he is claiming freedom of speech and expression. This freedom was given by the Constitution of India to all its citizens but now it has been misused and abused by the said actor Mr. Surya in his criticizing statements against the functioning of courts.

9. The statement by the actor Mr.Surya does not fall under the category of Freedom of speech and expression and even not under restricted freedom of speech but has crossed all the limits and now nailing against the Hon’ble Judicial function of the Hon’ble Judges in the country, which he has no right to make such statements that too in this pandemic situation courts are continuously functioning without any hindrance and delivering justice to all in order to maintain dignity, decency and decorum. But the hate speech by the said actor has brought a wrong sign to the citizens of India which led to debate in the media is a contempt of court and he should be dealt in a manner known to law and he should be thought how the courts function even in a pandemic and non pandemic situation. He cannot be just let go of and he should withdraw his statement about the functioning of judiciary and he has no business to either comment or criticize the functioning as well.

10. The statement of the said Actor Mr. Surya is highly condemnable, downgrading the Judicial Function, defaming the Hon’ble Judges cannot be accepted and he should be dealt appropriately and he should face the contempt proceedings initiated by the Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.M. Subramanian after following the due procedures of law. The advertisement to a person can be claimed by any means he wants, being an actor he is more advertised and he should look at his own business but not interfering with the justice delivery system and he has no clue how the system functions and he cannot use such defamatory language or statement and such activities has to be curbed at the threshold and that he should be dealt with iron hands.

S. Prabakaran

[Senior Advocate]

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