A court has imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on an accused for repeatedly avoiding physical presence before it in a cheating case.
The court was hearing a 2019 case registered against Sanjeev Chadha at Keshav Puram police station which is at the stage of hearing arguments on charges.
Citing a Delhi High Court order of December 13, 2023, Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Arora said Chadha was directed to physically appear before her court for tendering an unconditional apology for inconveniencing it by his non-appearance. It had also directed the trial court to proceed with the case.
Noting that Chadha had appeared through video conferencing (VC), the magistrate said, “It appears that accused Sanjeev Chadha has a habit of avoiding his physical appearance at one pretext or the other. The same can be perused from the court file.”
In an order passed on February 19, the magistrate said Chadha was abusing the process of law by appearing through video conferencing.
“Seeing the conduct of the accused, a cost of Rs. 30,000 stands imposed upon him to be paid in Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSA) northwest,” the court said.
The matter has been posted on April 5 for further proceedings.
