Contempt matter: SC says Delhi High Court sentencing lawyer to 6-month jail 'justified'

The lawyer was held guilty of criminal contempt for making 'scandalous, unwarranted and baseless imputations' against several judges of the high court and the district courts in Delhi.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday termed as 'justified' the Delhi High Court's sentencing of a lawyer to six months in jail after holding him guilty of criminal contempt for making 'scandalous, unwarranted and baseless imputations' against several judges of the high court and the district courts in the national capital.

Hearing the matter, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud reduced the sentence to the period already undergone by the advocate considering that he had tendered an apology.

Senior advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, appearing for the lawyer, told the bench that the contemnor had placed an apology in writing before all the judges concerned and also took back his objectionable remarks against the judges and the judiciary.

"We are of the view that the order of the Delhi High Court is justified. However, keeping in mind the subsequent developments, we reduce the sentence to the period already undergone," said the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

On January 16, the top court had directed the lawyer to tender a proper unconditional apology to the judges he had targeted, saying it was not satisfied with the nature of his apology.

The high court had on January 9 convicted the lawyer of contempt of court and sentenced him to six months' imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 2,000 on him. It had also directed that he be taken into custody and handed over to the superintendent of the Tihar jail.

In its verdict, the high court had noted that since the lawyer who made the 'contumacious allegations' was an officer of the court, it was necessary to check such actions with a 'firm hand'.

The lawyer had filed a plea before a single-judge bench of the high court in July 2022 accusing several judges of acting arbitrarily, whimsically or in a biased manner, naming several judges in his petition.