The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday closed contempt proceedings against Bhartiya Janata Party's (BJP) Delhi president Manoj Tiwari and reprimanded him for his action of breaking the seal of a locked house in an unauthorised colony, terming the leader as a "rebel without a cause" and "misplaced bravado".
A Bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, in its order, also said that misplaced political propaganda has no place and such practices should be deprecated. "What shocked us that instead of pacifying the mob, Manoj Tiwari took the law in his own hands. Such an act is serious," said the apex court.
The Bench declined to take action against the elected representative and left it to his party instead. The court said, "There is no doubt that Tiwari has taken law in his hand. We are pained by the machismo and manner of Tiwari. As an elected representative he should have acted responsibly rather than taking law in his own hands."
Later Tiwari, while addressing the press, said: "I respect what the Supreme Court has said but whenever and wherever I feel that the human rights are being violated, as a representative, no matter what, I will stand for the people of Delhi".
He further added, "We (BJP) have protested against illegal sealing and will continue to do the same in future."
Earlier in September, he accused the SC-appointed monitoring committee of conducting 'pick and choose' sealing drive that targets small commercial establishments and neglects the massive structures built on public land in the capital.
On September 16, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Tiwari accusing him of breaking the lock of a house situated in Gokulpuri area in north east of Delhi that was sealed by the Supreme Court-mandated monitoring committee. However, the BJP lawmaker said that he broke the lock of the premise as it was wrongly sealed by the committee.
On September 19 based on a report filed by the monitoring committee, a contempt notice was issued by the Supreme Court against him.
Earlier, the BJP leader had urged the top court to stop the sealing drive till the final verdict is pronounced in the case. He also alleged that the monitoring committee appointed by the top court, along with corrupt officials, is running a "corruption racket in the capital".
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