Judge who charged finance minister Arun Jaitley with sedition suspended

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Saturday suspended the civil judge of Mahoba in Jhansi district, Ankit Goel, who had slapped sedition charges in October on finance minister Arun Jaitley for criticising the Supreme Court's recent decision of striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) for selection of judges to the higher judiciary.
The high court suspended the civil judge for irregularities and for acting beyond his jurisdiction.
Taking suo motu cognizance of Jaitley's criticism of SC verdict, Ankit Goel had summoned him to be present before him in November. Goel had also, in August last year, issued summons to Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for his purported comment that allegations of gang rape could often be fabricated.
Intervening in both the cases, the high court quashed sedition charges against Jaitley and dismissed summons issued by Goel seeking Mulayam's personal appearance in his court.
Goel in his order had said the finance minister's blog 'Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected' prima facie amounted to sedition under Section 124A as well as causing public mischief under Section 505 of Indian Penal Code.
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