The Supreme Court recently came down on three Jharkhand police officials for filing a charge sheet in a case where the accused was granted interim protection by the top court [Satish Kumar Ravi v State of Jharkhand].

A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih issued contempt of court notice to the three cops and asked them to appear before court (either physically or via video conference) on November 4.

"There is a counter affidavit filed on behalf of the first respondent (State of Jharkhand) ... The said affidavit brings on record a very brazen act on the part of the Police Department of the State of Jharkhand ... Filing of the charge sheet and justifying the filing of the charge-sheet is prima facie, a wilful breach of the interim order dated 18th August, 2023 passed by this Court," the Bench observed.

The Court was hearing an appeal that refused to quash the criminal complaint and subsequent proceedings in a case involving an alleged landlord-tenant dispute.

The tenant, who was the complainant and the wife of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, claimed that the accused-landlord had forcibly entered the property in question, damaged it and assaulted her.

The landlord's stand was that the tenant had defaulted on rent, necessitating eviction proceedings.

The Jharkhand High Court had in April 2017 granted interim protection to the accused, but in May last year vacated the same and refused to quash the case.

The Supreme Court had in August last year sought the response of the Jharkhand government in the matter. It also directed that the case should not be pursued in the interim.

During the hearing on October 1, the Court noted that besides filing of chargesheet, the police had published notices in newspapers against the landlord during the pendency of the protection by the Supreme Court.

"This action was taken pursuant to an order dated 10th April, 2023 of the Trial Court. Even this act is prima facie contemptuous," the Court said.

Therefore, it proceeded to issue notice of contempt to the following cops who were posted in Ranchi's Lower Bazaar Police Station during the relevant period.

- Deepak Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police;

- Dayanand Kumar, Station House Officer;

- Tarkeshwar Prasad Kesari, Investigating Officer.

"The notice shall be forwarded to the Office of the Superintendent of Police, City Ranchi, Jharkhand, for effecting service," the apex court ordered.

Senior Advocate M Shoeb Alam with advocates Ujjwal Singh, Mojahid Karim Khan, Shadab Eqbal, Atefa Parwez, Abhishek Naik, and Gulafsha Qureshi appeared for the accused, one Satish Ravi.

Advocates Madhusmita Bora, Vishnu Sharma, Pawan Kishore Singh, Dipankar Singh, Pavithra V and Anupama Sharma appeared for the State of Jharkhand.

[Read order]