The Delhi High Court has recently sentenced a man to 6-month imprisonment for contempt of court after he used “derogatory language” for a sitting judge, who dismissed his petition.
A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on the contemnor, Naresh Sharma, and stated that it was “highly shocked” by the averments made by him in his case pending before the high court.
The court stated that as a responsible citizen, the contemnor was expected to set-forth his grievances in a civilised manner while maintaining the dignity of the court and judicial process of law.
The bench also comprising Justice Shalinder Kaur stated in an order passed on October 31, “We hereby hold the contemnor guilty of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and consequently, we sentence him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months with fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment of 7 days. The contemnor is directed to be taken into custody by HC Vinod (Naib Court), who shall handover his custody to the Tihar Jail, Delhi today itself.”
The contempt case arose from a petition filed by the contemnor, a resident of Pathankot in Punjab, seeking immediate criminal prosecution of Union of India, Delhi Police, Mumbai Police, Bengaluru Police, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Government Ministries, Departments, etc. for “extreme crimes” inflicted upon him and the people of India at large.
The petition was dismissed with costs by a single judge.
The contemnor then filed an appeal before a division bench seeking death penalty for the judge for her “defamatory” & “seditious” decision and also filed a police complaint seeking her prosecution.
In August, the division bench dealing with his appeal issued a show cause notice to him asking why contempt proceedings be not initiated for levelling unsubstantiated, whimsical allegations against a high court judge and comparing her to a devil.
It stated, “The present appeal contains unsubstantiated and whimsical allegations of criminal acts by learned single judge seeking the punishment of death penalty and a comparison of the judge to the devil, which is distasteful and unacceptable.”
While passing the present order on sentence, the court noted that the contemnor made allegations not against a sitting judge but that the “Delhi High Court in the national capital is involved in making the criminal situation more complicated by committing crime upon crime.”
The court emphasised, “The contemnor has sought criminal action against the learned single judge by stating that Article 14 of the Constitution of India does not allow mixing unrelated thing, and so the single bench should be criminally charged with. The contemnor has also raised derogatory allegations against the Hon’ble Supreme Court and even emphasizes punishment of death penalty.”
