Courting trouble

Subramanian Swamy's many followers on the right and online follow his adventures with much excitement. Swamy has, in the past, publicly taken credit for the Supreme Court's strong words when it appeared the Italian marines accused of killing Kerala fishermen appeared to be staying in Italy instead of returning to India to face trial. Perhaps the Court's patience with Swamy - who is not a lawyer, but has tendered petitions to the Court in numerous politically high-profile cases - is finally wearing thin? On Tuesday, Swamy tweeted: "CJI refused to hear my Contempt Petition in which I said GOI and Italy had colluded on letting the Italians to go. So I walked out." He added: "I don't mind being insulted by CJI for defending the honour of Bharat Mata. GOI Italy collusion is disgusting." He certainly must be feeling peeved - far from choosing to walk out, one person present during the proceedings says that the chief justice asked him to leave when he pressed his case. In fact, Chief Justice Altamas Kabir had refused to hear his earlier contempt petition against the Italian ambassador, at the session where the Court told the ambassador not to leave India without permission. The chief justice had told Swamy then to put his petition in writing. Perhaps Swamy didn't get the hint.