The Allahabad High Court recently issued a contempt order against a lawyer for allegedly stalking, sending unpleasant comments, hurling casteist abuses, and misbehaving with a female judicial officer on Facebook.
A Bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Vinod Diwakar ordered, “Issue notice to Sri Abhay Pratap, Advocate, to show cause why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for levelling baseless insulting allegations, scandalising and undermining the authority and dignity of the court.”
On the lady judicial officer’s Facebook account, the lawyer Abhay Pratap had sent offensive, upsetting, and filthy remarks.
He began coming to her court after the lady officer blocked him on social media. Even though he had no work in her court, he would sit there and stare at her all the time.
The judge noted that it became impossible for her to concentrate on her duties, so she filed a complaint against the lawyer since she had no other choice. A First Information Report (FIR) was then filed against him.
Referring to an order passed by another Bench cancelling the contemnor’s bail, the Court stated that his conduct prima facie amount to criminal contempt under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.
“While issuing the notices within a week, the Registry will ensure that a copy of the order passed by this court on 20th March, 2023 in Criminal Misc. Bail Cancellation Application No. 36 of 2023 is also sent along with the notice,” the Court ordered.
