Delhi High Court sentences lawyer to 4 months in jail for insulting judges

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sentenced a lawyer to four months of imprisonment along with a penalty of ₹2,000 for criminal contempt of court after he made a series of derogatory remarks against judicial officers, including judges of the Delhi High Court [Court on its own motion v. Sanjeev Kumar].

A Bench of Justices Pratibha M Singh and Amit Sharma passed the order after noting that the lawyer had failed to demonstrate any remorse for his actions.

"The Contemnor has also not shown any remorse during the course of the submissions being heard by this Court. He has not expressed any apology and his entire conduct is merely an attempt to scandalize and malign the Courts. Such a conduct on behalf of the Contemnor, especially, someone who is qualified as an Advocate cannot be left unpunished," the Court said in the November 6 order

Contempt proceedings had been initiated against the lawyer after he made derogatory remarks about judges in a chat box on the WebEx videoconferencing platform during a virtual court hearing. The comments included:

• "Hope this court will pass the order on merit without pressure of bar members"

• "Jo darta hai wo kabhi justice nhi kar payega" (One who is afraid can never deliver justice)

• "Janboojhkar slow slow hearings karti hai" (Deliberately causes slow hearings)

• "Galat order pass karti hai" (Passes incorrect orders)

• Pandit ki tarah bhavishya vani karti hai...Without merit order pass karti hai" (like a priest makes predictions... they pass orders without merit)

• "Case jada hai toh Hon’ble chief justice of Delhi HC se aur case allocated mat karwao ish court ko...pahle old backlog finish kar lo" (If there are too many cases, don't allocate any more to this Court from the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court... first finish the old backlog)

• "Mere cases na sunne ke liye bar members ka pressure" (Bar members are applying pressure to prevent my cases from being heard)

The case also involved multiple complaints the lawyer filed against his estranged wife, her family, and various judicial officers who had given the lawyer adverse rulings.

The lawyer in question, Advocate Sanjeev Kumar represented himself and argued that the complaints he filed were legitimate grievances related to his matrimonial dispute. He asserted that his actions were prompted by the alleged misconduct of judicial officers.

Advocate Varun Goswami, who was appointed amicus curiae by the Court, highlighted Kumar’s pattern of frivolous litigation and his complaints against multiple judicial officers, which, according to the amicus, were intended to undermine the judiciary.

The Court analysed the repeated baseless complaints and derogatory comments made by Kumar and concluded that his behavior showed intent to scandalize the Court and also lower its authority and dignity.

"In addition, in the written submissions which the Contemnor has filed in response to the show cause which was issued by this Court, the manner in which the Contemnor refers to the ld. Single Judge of this Court and the various allegations which are made are completely unacceptable and are gross," it added.

Accordingly, the Court sentenced Kumar to four months of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹2,000. It further denied his request to suspend the sentence, citing his unremorseful conduct and instructed police authorities to take Kumar into custody immediately.

[Read Order]