The Supreme Court on Monday has sentenced three lawyers to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 3 months for contempt of Court for raising scurrilous and scandalous allegations against Judges of the Supreme Court.
A bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta & Justice Aniruddha Bose had earlier on April 27, held the three lawyers namely Vijay Kurle, Nilesh Ojha and Rashid Khan Pathan guilty of contempt of Court and was listed for hearing on sentence on May 1.
When the matter was being heard on May 4, one of the Contemnor Nilesh Ojha had filed an application for recusal of one of Justice Deepak Gupta, on the ground that the Bench is in a hurry to decide the matter.
The contemnors had also filed an application for recall of the judgment, however since Justice Deepak Gupta is to demit office on 06.05.2020, therefore, the matter had to be heard by the bench.
The bench stated that none appeared for one of the Contemnors, Rashid Khan Pathan on the last occasion and the the registry had received a WhatsApp message from the Contemnors Counsel Mr. Ishwari Lal S. Aggarwal, that around 100 advocates would appear for Rashid Khan and he wanted to know the limit for Video Conferencing. Later, he sent a list of 11 advocates appearing for the Contemnor. However later another counsel appearing for Rashid Khan stated that there was no urgency in the matter and it should be listed after the lockdown was over. The bench pointed out that this was only to delay the matter and rejected the application.
The three contemnors had also file seeking recall of the judgment dated 27.04.2020. The main ground stated was that the judgment is contrary to the judgment rendered in Bal Thackrey vs. Harish Pimpalkhute and Others and is per incuriam and not as per the law laid down by this Court.
The contemnors also urged that notice could not have been issued by the Bench comprising of Jsutice R.F. Nariman & Justice Vineet Saran and the matter should have been first dealt with by the Chief Justice on the administrative side.
The bench however observed that “till 27.04.2020 when the judgment was pronounced no grievance was raised that the contemnors have not been given a proper hearing. We find that all the grounds raised in the three recall applications are virtually identical and in all the applications correctness of our judgment is questioned on many grounds. No recall application can lie on these grounds and the proper remedy for the contemnors is to file a review petition, if so advised. We, therefore, reject all the three recall applications as being not maintainable without expressing any opinion on the grounds raised therein. The contemnors if so advised, can file review petition in accordance with law.”
The bench further observed that “There is not an iota of remorse or any semblance of apology on behalf of the contemnors.”
Since the contemnors did not argue on sentence, the bench was of the view that it would decide the sentence without assistance of the contemnors. The bench further observed “In view of the scurrilous and scandalous allegations levelled against the judges of this Court and no remorse being shown by any of the contemnors we are of the considered view that they cannot be let off leniently. We have also held in our judgment that the complaints were sent by the contemnors with a view to intimidate the Judges who were yet to hear Shri Nedumpara on the question of punishment, so that no action against Shri Nedumpara is taken. Therefore, it is obvious that this is a concerted effort to virtually hold the Judiciary to ransom.”
The bench however keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown conditions directed that the sentence shall come into force after 16 weeks from when the contemnors shall surrender before the Secretary General to undergo the imprisonment. Otherwise, warrants for their arrest shall be issued.
-India Legal Bureau