The Delhi High Court has sentenced a man to six-month imprisonment for contempt of court after he used “derogatory language” for a sitting judge, who had 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 said it was “highly shocked” by the averments made by him in his case pending before the high court.
The court said 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.
“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 seven 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,” ordered the bench, also comprising Justice Shalinder Kaur, in an order passed on October 31.
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 the single judge.
The contemnor then filed an appeal before a division bench seeking death penalty for the judge for her “defamatory” and “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.
“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,” it had said.
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 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,” the court emphasised.
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“The contemnor has used utter derogatory language for the learned single bench to the extent of saying that the learned single judge is a ‘thief? and he has full proof of the same,” the court said.
The court added that during the proceedings, the contemnor stood by the allegations made by him against the single judge as well as the officers of Government of India and the judiciary, and “has no repentance for his conduct and actions”.
“The contemnor who claims to have been educated in engineering and science from one of the most reputed educational institutions of India i.e. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Bombay and in USA, is expected to respect the Constitutionality of India and have faith in the legal system of law. As a responsible citizen of the country, the contemnor is expected to set-forth his grievances in a civilised manner, maintaining the dignity of the court and judicial process of law,” the court said.
