'Malice Spreading Fast In District Courts': Allahabad HC Cancels Bail Granted To Advocate Accused Of Sending Obnoxious Messages To Lady Judge

The Allahabad High Court on Monday canceled bail granted by a local court to a district court advocate who has been accused of sending obnoxious messages to a lady judge thereby causing harassment. The Court underscored that the Policy of Zero Tolerance in such matters has become imperative.

Dealing with the plea moved by the lady judge herself seeking cancellation of his bail, the bench of Justice Siddharth observed that the sessions judge ought to have considered the fact that such conduct of the accused will have a deleterious effect on the functioning of the judicial system at the grass root of level. 

Further, stressing that the conduct of the accused against the applicant amounted to the creation of fear in the minds of the female Presiding Officers of the District Court faced with the acts of sexual harassment, the bench opined that such a case must be dealt with iron hands through the initiation of proceedings for criminal contempt

"No Presiding Officer of a court can be expected to discharge her official duties of administration of justice freely 4 of 5 and fairly with a balanced and composed state of mind, if such acts or the mere apprehension thereof are there. The apprehension of harassment through spoken words and written words and stalking in court will always loom large over her psyche. In a situation where Presiding Officer of the court is herself not secure, it cannot be expected that she would be able to protect the litigants, who appear before her for protection of their modesty from unwarranted incursions and outrage by accused, like opposite party no.2," the bench observed.

The Court also noted that it had come across another such case of another district and that this malice was spreading fast in the district courts which should be dealt with iron hands.

The facts in brief

At the time of the incident in question, the victim, a lady judge, was posted as Civil Judge (Junior Division)/Judicial Magistrate in District Court Maharajganj. As per the allegations, the accused, a practicing advocate in the same court started sending obnoxious messages to her. He also cast certain remarks through messages on facebook account of the applicant.

In fact, he got the mobile number of the lady judge and started sending messages on the same. He used to come to her court without any work and gazed her continuously.

Beyond a point when it came impossible for to tolerate the activities of the accused, the lady judge got lodged an FIR against him at the police station Kotwali Maharajganj in November 2022 and he was booked under Sections 186, 228, 352, 353, 354, 354-D, 506, 509 IPC and Section 67 I.T Act

Consequently, he was arrested on November 23, 2022, however, he was granted bail by the Sessions Judge on December 17, 2022. Challenging the bail order, the victim moved to the High Court seeking cancellation of the bail.

Arguing the case herself, she submitted before the HC that due to the activities of the accused, she was not in a position to concentrate on her work and was apprehensive about her security.

She further stated that she was in constant fear that her reputation would be maligned by the accused and since her marriage was settled, these messages could have destroyed her marital life in the future and may have affected her prospective marital life.

She also argued that the accused was setting up dangerous trends and should be dealt with severely and bail granted to him should be cancelled. It was also her case that the trial court erred in granting bail to him by placing reliance on the judgment of Satendra Kumar Antil as the charge sheet was not filed against the accused when he was granted bail.

Having heard the arguments advanced by the victim herself, the Court observed that the Sessions Judge had neither considered the correct, legal and factual position of the case while granting bail to the accused nor, had applied mind to the future repercussions of granting bail to an accused involved in committing such offences against a female Presiding Officer of a Court of Law.

"It is clear from the record that the charge-sheet was not submitted against the opposite party no.2, when he was granted bail by the learned Sessions Judge, Maharajganj, relying upon the judgment of Apex Court in the case of Satendra Kumar Antil (supra). The investigation was in progress when the opposite party no.2 was put behind bars on 23.11.2022 and sent to jail. It may be true that all the offence against opposite party no.2 are punishable with terms of imprisonment below 7 years, but all offences are not bailable. At least two of the alleged offences punishable under Sections 353 and 354 IPC are non bailable. It is not a case where bail should have been granted on a matter of right," the Court observed.

Further, underscoring that it was a case that concerned a lady judge, the Court canceled the bail order and directed for the conclusion of trial in 6 months.

Significantly, the Court also opined that the act of the accused came under the ambit of criminal contempt of court since such acts amounted to interference with course of justice and obstruction in the administration of justice and hence, the Court issued the following order:

"the Registry of this Court is directed place this case before the appropriate Bench, within two weeks for taking suo moto cognizance of the criminal contempt committed by the opposite party no.2., Abhay Pratap."

Case title - Isha Agrawal vs. State of U.P. and Another [CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL CANCELLATION APPLICATION No. - 36 of 2023]

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 103

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