Kerala High Court Convicts Police Officer Who Abused Advocate; 2 Months Imprisonment Imposed For Contempt Of Court
The Kerala High Court has imposed a sentence of 2 months of simple imprisonment on a police officer for contempt of court for abusing and misbehaving with an advocate. The Court has however suspended the sentence for a period of 1 year. During this period, the police officer is cautioned to not indulge in any untoward activities. After the period of 1 year, the sentence would lapse.
The sentence was delivered by Justice Devan Ramachandran. He observed:
“In the above circumstances, my order is sentencing the 1st respondent for 2 months of simple imprisonment under the provisions of Contempt of Court Act. However, suspending the same for a period of one year and should he not involve in any analogous charge during this period, the said sentence would lapse after the said period.
The Court while passing the judgment adopted the approach of Supreme Court in Mathews Nedumpara, in re (2019) where the Court after punishing the contemnor suspended the sentence as long as he abides by the undertaking taken before the Court.
The Court asked counsel of the 1st respondent, Adv. Omar Salim whether he would like to face trial or face action in contempt proceedings. The advocate chose to submit before the jurisdiction of the High Court in the instant contempt petition.
The Court in an earlier judgment ordered the police not to use any derogatory language against the public. The contempt petitition was filed by lawyer Adv. P. S. Aqib Sohail who faced insults from V. R. Raneesh, former Sub-Inspector of Alathur Police Station when he went to the station to comply with the order of Magistrate. The petitioner had also alleged that the police officer threatened him with physical abuse.
Adv. Yeshwanth Shenoy appeared for the petitioner. He submitted before the Court that the alleged contemnor has a history of misbehaving with the public. He said that there are 3 videos of this police officer is misbehaving with the public. A case is also against him before a Magistrate Court for inflicting injuries on a person.
The police officer had offered apology in this matter before the Court. The Court finding that letting off on basis of an apology would embolden these activities decided to impose punishment on the police officer. The Court relied on the Supreme Court judgment in Balwantbhai Somabhai Bhandari v. Hiralal Somabhai Contractor (2023) where a Divsion Bench of the Supreme Court had observed that the Court need not always accept the apology of the contemnors. The Supreme Court had observed that the lenient attitude shown by the courts over a period of time has emboldened unscrupulous litigants to disobey or commit breach of the order passed by any court.
The High Court took note of the large number of contempt proceedings before the Courts and orally observed that it showed that the orders of the Court were not being followed.
The High Court while dictating the order observed:
"The offer of an apology cannot be always used to purge the guilty. Tendering of an apology by itself is not a satisfactory way of resolving contempt proceedings. Though one such apology made at the very initial stage, bonafide and unconditionally can persuade court to accept is as a mitigatory factor."
Case Title: Aqib Sohail P. S. v Raneesh V. R.
Case No: Con. Case (C) 175/ 2024