SODELPA candidate Sharma denies contempt of court charge
SODELPA candidate for the 2018 General Election Anirudh Sharma pleaded not guilty to a contempt of court charge in the High Court in Suva yesterday.
Sharma was charged in relation to a post on social media against a presiding magistrate in a criminal case.
It’s alleged that the post was made on September 27.
He appeared before Justice Kamal Kumar and said he understood the severity of the court action.
The matter was called for a hearing. However, Sharma’s lawyer Aman RavindraSingh asked to be given seven days to read through the documents provided by the applicant because he was recently appointed to represent Sharma and did not have full knowledge of the case.
The Attorney-General had filed the notice of motion on the grounds that the comments made by Sharma were contemptuous in that:
The comments had been deliberately made with the intention to scandalise the court and the judicial officer presiding over the criminal case in the Labasa Magistrates Court;
It is a scurrilous attack on a member of the judiciary, thereby lowering or undermining or posing a real risk of lowering and undermining the reputation of the judiciary, the public confidence in the judiciary and the administration of justice in Fiji;
It is designed to influence the court on issues that were sub judice; and
The integrity, authority, and independence of the judiciary and the courts must be upheld and that making of such scandalous statements amount to contempt of court. In the notice, it was also highlighted that the applicant will reply on the affidavits of the Attorney-General and Izek Ashwin Lal, both filed on October 16, 2018.
The matter was adjourned for a mention for hearing to December 4.
Edited by Naisa Koroi