Gauhati High Court Convicts Lawyer For Contempt Over Comments On Judge's "Model-Like" Jewellery, Comparison With Mythical Demon

A lawyer who made scathing remarks against an Additional District Judge by inter alia commenting upon her attire and comparing her to mythical demon, was convicted for criminal contempt by the Gauhati High Court yesterday.

The division bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Devashis Baruah passed the order after the lawyer, Utpal Goswami, pleaded guilty and tendered an apology.

“In view of the plea of guilty taken by the respondent/contemnor, we hereby convict the respondent contemnor on his plea of guilty being taken, as per the provision of section 14 of the Courts Act, 1971,” the bench said.

Goswami had filed a petition under Section 24 CPC for transfer, which was pending before the Court of Additional District Judge, Jorhat. In the petition, he said “the presiding officer has been presiding the Court by wearing jewelry like a Model in Ramp and that each and every occasion she tried to overpower/depress the advocates by citing unnecessary case laws and sections of statues without hearing the advocates and tries to control the Court room behaving like a Gangue.”

He further alleged that the concerned presiding officer treats her typist as something special to her, collects eatables from Majuli district through her office assistant and also uses official driver and car for personal work. He further compared the concerned judicial officer to ‘bhasmasur’- a mythical character in Purana.

Goswami was charged with criminal contempt under section 14 (Procedure where contempt is in the face of the Supreme Court or a High Court) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

In his affidavit, he pleaded guilty to the charge and tendered his unconditional apology. He further assured that he shall never repeat this type of crime in future.

When the Court explained the charge to him, he prayed for mercy and did not claim to be tried. Thus, the Court convicted him under Section 14 and released him on bail on a personal bond of Rs. 10,000/-.

The court further directed the registry to list the matter on March 20 for sentence hearing.

Case Title: XXX v. In Re-Utpal Goswami

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Gau) 38

Coram: Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Devashis Baruah

Click Here to Read/Download Order