The court granted Arundhati Roy exemption from personal appearance following her undertaking that she will appear when required.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court today exempted writer-activist Arundhati Roy from personal appearance in the contempt of court proceedings against her.
The writer and activist was present in the court today. The judges adjourned the hearing for four weeks as the matter is also before the Supreme Court.
The bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and PN Deshmukh said prima facie it did not agree with the contention of her lawyer that it was improper for the court to take suo moto (on its own) notice of the contempt case over an article penned by her.
Senior lawyer KH Deshpande, Ms Roy's lawyer, said a single judge cannot initiate contempt proceedings and it should have been referred to the bench headed by the Chief Justice.
He also said that opinion of the Advocate General was not sought, as is the procedure while initiating contempt proceedings.
But as the court was not inclined to agree, Mr Deshpande stated that the apex court was also seized of the matter and the hearing may be adjourned.
The court granted Ms Roy exemption from personal appearance following her undertaking that she will appear when required.
The Supreme Court had last week refused to stay the contempt notice issued by Justice Arun Chaudhari of the High Court for "scurrilous attack and nasty language used against the judiciary" in Ms Roy's article questioning the arrest of alleged Naxal supporter GN Saibaba.
Earlier this morning, the bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Vinay Deshpande of the High Court recused itself, so the case was assigned to another bench.