Supreme Court halts retired IPS officer’s sentence in contempt case filed by MS Dhoni
In the latest development, the Supreme Court has temporarily paused the former IPS officer G Sampath Kumar’s sentence in the contempt case lodged by former Indian captain MS Dhoni. It has been learnt that on February 5, Monday, the Supreme Court was not in a hurry to take things forward in the case.
The concern has been posted for the next hearing slated to be held on March 8, which comes as a huge setback for MS Dhoni ahead of the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League. For the record, a bench of Justices namely Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan stayed the order and also issued a notice to the CSK captain.
Let’s learn more about the case in detail. For the unversed, the Madras High Court, in late December, found culpable in committing criminal contempt. As a result, the High Court sentenced the retired IPS officer to jail for 15 days.
Read more: Alastair Cook predicts the next big star in Indian cricket after Virat Kohli
MS Dhoni files defamation case against G Sampath Kumar
G Sampath Kumar, a CID officer from Tamil Nadu, was given a time gap of 30 days to challenge the decision. The case started to progress when the former Indian skipper filed a 100 crore defamation case against Kumar. Sampath had accused the CSK captain of match-fixing.
In addition, the Jharkhand-born brought a contempt case against Sampath Kumar for making derogatory statements about the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court. The former IPS officer was initially tasked with probing the 2013 match-fixing scandal.
Needless to say, he got suspended amid claims he took bribes from bookies to clear their names. Five years ago, i.e. in 2019, a court cleared Sampath Kumar owing to the lack of evidence. Recently, the Madras High Court expressed its opinion on the retired IPS officer.
“If persons like Sampath Kumar were allowed to shake the confidence of the public in the impartial administration of justice, it should be treated as an attack on the judiciary. In the present case, we are convinced that the statements made by the respondent in the additional written statement is with an intention to scandalise this court, to lower its authority, and to destroy the confidence of people in the administration of justice.
“From the language and the context, this court has no hesitation to hold that the respondent wants to convey a message in the additional written statement that the high court as well as the Supreme Court, while passing orders, either do not follow the Rule of Law or pass orders which are nothing but abuse of process of law”, the high court stated.
Read more: Shaheen Shah Afridi discloses batter he found toughest to bowl to
