The Supreme Court today barred advocate Mathews Nedumpara from practicing before it for a year..A Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran also sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment. The sentence shall, however, remain suspended as long as Nedumpara complies with his undertaking to the Court that he will not “browbeat judges of the Supreme Court or Bombay High Court”..Importantly, a fresh contempt case has also been initiated against Nedumpara and three other lawyers, Vijay Kurle, Rashid Khan Pathan and Nilesh Ojha, for sending a letter to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the President of India making “scurrilous” allegations against Supreme Court judges..This fresh contempt case has been placed before CJI Gogoi to constitute an appropriate Bench to hear the matter..Earlier this month, the Court had found Mathews Nedumpara guilty of contempt and has issued notice to decide the quantum of punishment..The Court, in its judgment, took note of the submissions made by Nedumpara during the course of the hearing of a case concerning designation of Senior Advocates. It ultimately led to the Court finding him guilty of contempt. Nedumpara “attempted to browbeat the Court” and attempted to embarrass one of the judges on the Bench, Justice Nariman, the judgment states..When the matter was heard on March 5, 2019, Nedumpara had apparently referred to Senior Advocate Fali Nariman in his submissions..This had irked Justice Rohinton Nariman, who told Nedumpara,.“Why did you take Mr. Nariman’s name? What has Fali Nariman got to do with this case? We will take contempt action against you.”.Nedumpara, in an attempt to placate the Court said that he, in fact, did not take Mr. Fali Nariman’s name, at which point Justice Rohinton Nariman said,.“The whole courtroom heard you take his name, they’ll file affidavits.”.The judgment in this regard states,.“We are of the view that the only reason for taking the learned Senior Advocate’s name, without there being any relevance to his name in the present case, is to browbeat the Court and embarrass one of us. Shri Nedumpara then proceeded to make various statements unrelated to the matter at hand. He stated that, “Your Lordships have enormous powers of contempt, and Tihar Jail is not so far.””.The Court had pronounced Nedumpara guilty of contempt of court while deferring the matter to consider the aspect of sentencing. It had issued notice to Nedumpara to hear him with respect to the same..During the hearing today, Nedumpara and his counsel Subhash Jha had submitted that Nedumpara had taken the name of Fali Nariman only to argue that even Fali Nariman was opposed to the current system of Senior designation. Nedumpara also tendered an unconditional apology to the Court..The Court recorded the same before barring Nedumpara from practicing in Supreme Court for a year..Read the order below. .Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
The Supreme Court today barred advocate Mathews Nedumpara from practicing before it for a year..A Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran also sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment. The sentence shall, however, remain suspended as long as Nedumpara complies with his undertaking to the Court that he will not “browbeat judges of the Supreme Court or Bombay High Court”..Importantly, a fresh contempt case has also been initiated against Nedumpara and three other lawyers, Vijay Kurle, Rashid Khan Pathan and Nilesh Ojha, for sending a letter to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the President of India making “scurrilous” allegations against Supreme Court judges..This fresh contempt case has been placed before CJI Gogoi to constitute an appropriate Bench to hear the matter..Earlier this month, the Court had found Mathews Nedumpara guilty of contempt and has issued notice to decide the quantum of punishment..The Court, in its judgment, took note of the submissions made by Nedumpara during the course of the hearing of a case concerning designation of Senior Advocates. It ultimately led to the Court finding him guilty of contempt. Nedumpara “attempted to browbeat the Court” and attempted to embarrass one of the judges on the Bench, Justice Nariman, the judgment states..When the matter was heard on March 5, 2019, Nedumpara had apparently referred to Senior Advocate Fali Nariman in his submissions..This had irked Justice Rohinton Nariman, who told Nedumpara,.“Why did you take Mr. Nariman’s name? What has Fali Nariman got to do with this case? We will take contempt action against you.”.Nedumpara, in an attempt to placate the Court said that he, in fact, did not take Mr. Fali Nariman’s name, at which point Justice Rohinton Nariman said,.“The whole courtroom heard you take his name, they’ll file affidavits.”.The judgment in this regard states,.“We are of the view that the only reason for taking the learned Senior Advocate’s name, without there being any relevance to his name in the present case, is to browbeat the Court and embarrass one of us. Shri Nedumpara then proceeded to make various statements unrelated to the matter at hand. He stated that, “Your Lordships have enormous powers of contempt, and Tihar Jail is not so far.””.The Court had pronounced Nedumpara guilty of contempt of court while deferring the matter to consider the aspect of sentencing. It had issued notice to Nedumpara to hear him with respect to the same..During the hearing today, Nedumpara and his counsel Subhash Jha had submitted that Nedumpara had taken the name of Fali Nariman only to argue that even Fali Nariman was opposed to the current system of Senior designation. Nedumpara also tendered an unconditional apology to the Court..The Court recorded the same before barring Nedumpara from practicing in Supreme Court for a year..Read the order below. .Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
