NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday convicted three lawyers for contempt of court for making scurrilous allegations against two of its judges, observing that shutting its eyes and not taking cognisance of such allegations will ultimately lead to loss of public faith in the judiciary.A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said the judiciary is not averse to criticism but people cannot be allowed to lower the majesty of the institution by making unfounded and baseless allegations amounting to scandalising it.Justifying invoking of contempt of court against the lawyers who had not only forwarded complaint against judges to the President and Chief Justice but also circulated it on social media, the bench said it was necessary in order to protect the institution. The lawyers had sent the complaint against the two judges after their bench initiated contempt proceedings against one advocate.“Bona fide criticism of any institution including the judiciary is always welcome. Healthy and constructive criticism of judgments cannot amount to contempt of court. However, if the allegations levelled go beyond the ambit of criticism and scandalise the court, there can be no manner of doubt that such utterances or written words would amount to contempt of court,” the bench said.“If the confidence of the citizenry in the institution of justice is shattered then not only the judiciary, but democracy itself will be under threat.” it said.The court said no one has the right to attribute motives to ajudge or to question the bona fides and competence of a judge and if the baseless allegations are permitted to remain unchallenged, the public will lose faith not only in those particular judges but also in the entire justice delivery system.“These sort of scandalous allegations have to be dealt with sternly and nipped in the bud,” the bench said and posted the case for May 1 to decide the quantum of punishment for the contemnors.