Delhi High Court Initiates Suo Moto Criminal Contempt Case Against Lawyer Who Made Personal Remarks On Judges

The Delhi High Court yesterday initiated suo moto criminal contempt case against a lawyer who made personal remarks on judges and posted contemptuous comments in the chat box while appearing through virtual mode during proceedings.

“Petitioner appears to have taken a wrong end of law, aggrieved against adverse orders passed by the Judicial Officers of the District Courts as well as this Court and cannot be permitted to cross the red line, thereby making personal attack on the Judges which undermines the integrity of the Institution,” Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta said.

On May 09, a show cause notice was issued to the lawyer asking why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.

Yesterday, Justice Mendiratta perused a reply filed by the lawyer and said that the same was also grossly contemptuous in nature “with hardly any relevant explanation for placing the comments in the Chat Box.”

The court said that the lawyer's conduct showed that he was habitual of making complaints and defaming the judges of the District Courts, who have dealt with and passed any adverse in any proceedings preferred by him.

“The allegations imputing motives and intemperate language have been intentionally used to scandalize the proceedings undertaken by the District Courts and this Court. The same tends to bring the authority and administration of justice into disrespect, and tantamounts to contempt,” the court said.

It directed the Registrar General to place the records of the judicial proceedings before Acting Chief Justice Manmohan for referring the matter to the concerned Division Bench handling criminal contempt.

The court has now directed the lawyer to appear before the division bench tomorrow.

Earlier, the court had observed that the comments were placed in public domain with intention to scandalize the Court, were patently contemptuous and interfere with due course of judicial proceedings.

A plea was moved by the lawyer challenging a trial court order which was dismissed on January 23 with a cost of Rs.25,000 to be deposited with the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee.

Though the review petition against the dismissal filed by the lawyer was listed on August 22, an application was filed by him in the interim.

On May 06, though the case was not listed for hearing, various comments were posted by the lawyer in the Chat Box during the hearings through VC. The same were placed on record by the Court staff.

The comments were- “hope this court will pass the order on merit without pressure of bar members review no 120/2024”, “Jo darta hai wo kabhi justice nhi kar payega”, “janboojhkar slow slow hearings karti hai”, “galat order pass karti hai, pandit ki tarah bhavishya vani karti hai...Without merit order pass karti hai”, “Mere cases na sunne ke liye bar members ka pressure.”

Title: SANJEEV KUMAR v. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 600

Click here to read order