Allahabad HC Initiates Suo Moto Contempt Proceedings Against An Advocate Who Misled Court To Obtain Favourable Bail Order

The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh passed this order against Advocate Parmanand Gupta after finding that he obtained a favorable order for his client concealing the fact that another bail plea had earlier been rejected by another bench of the court.

The Court also noted that it was a solitary case where Parmanand Gupta had adopted the said course of action of concealing and misleading the Court.

With this, the Court allowed the state’s plea seeking cancellation of the bail and ordered that the accused be taken into custody.

Essentially, the Advocate in question filed a bail plea on behalf of his client (accused) booked under Sections 379, 411, 412, 413, 414, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 484 and 120-B IPC as the first bail application and, therefore, it got listed before the Court which was dealing with the subject matter.

However, he did not mention the fact that earlier his bail plea had been rejected and this was in fact his second bail plea. When the second bail plea was allowed, the State moved the High Court seeking cancellation of the bail on the ground that the fact of rejection of the first bail had been concealed by the counsel as well as the accused

Taking note of the entire facts of the case, the Court observed thus:

“Sri Parmanand Gupta, Advocate, has, prima facie, conducted himself against the Bar Council Rules, professional ethics, contemptuous manner and he has played fraud with the Court and also interfered with the course of justice by misleading the Court as he concealed the material fact regarding rejection of the first bail application by this Bench. The Court has noted that this is not the solitary case where Sri Parmanand Gupta, Advocate, had adopted the said course of action of concealing and misleading the Court.”

With this, suo moto criminal contempt proceedings was directed to be drawn against him and the bail cancellation plea of the state was allowed.

Case title - State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Deptt. Home, Civil Sectt. Lko. Vs. Mohd. Rizwan @ Raziwan [CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL CANCELLATION APPLICATION No. - 114 of 2022]

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 54

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