Gujarat High Court seeks unconditional apology from litigant who used 'unparliamentary language' on social media against judges

The Gujarat High Court Wednesday took exception to the intemperate and unparliamentary language used against its judges by a person appearing as party-in-person in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition [Vishwas Bhamburkar vs Union of India]..A bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J Shastri was informed that the party-in-person Vishwas Bhamburkar had made certain 'scandalous and scurrilous' allegations against the judges of the High Court on his social media handle.The judges pertinently that Bhamburkar had a good hold over English language and the same was appreciated by some Twitter users.However, that was no license to make unsubstantiated allegations against judges, the Court underscored. "We have seen how people on Twitter have liked your posts. They have appreciated your English. We too appreciate the fact that you have a good hold on English language but that does not mean that you would use it in this fashion and that too against judges of this court," CJ Kumar remarked.The CJ further advised Bhamburkar to make good use of his good skills."How can you use such intemperate language for judges of this court. We will not accept such bad language. This use of unparliamentary language cannot be tolerated at all. File an affidavit with your unconditional apology," the Chief Justice told Bhamburkar..Bhamburkar moved the Court highlighting the issue of high-rise apartments around the Surat Airport.During the hearing, the bench said it understood Bhamburkar's anxiety to have the issue adjudicated properly but said that it should not be by using such language.Senior Advocate Mihir Thakore, appearing for one of the parties in the matter, urged the bench to take a suo motu cognizance of Bhamburkar's conduct. A similar request was made by senior advocate Asim Pandya, who highlighted an order passed by a bench led by former Chief Justice Vikram Nath against Bhamburkar's conduct of using bad language for judges of the High Court."Let him remove all the posts take back all the allegations first. Else he will only keep filing apologies and continue to defame this court in public," Pandya submitted..Hearing the contentions, the bench asked Bhamburkar as to why has he not engaged any lawyer to put forth his cause."Milords, I have spent nearly 7 years on this cause. Have read a lot about this issue and thus this has become my passion," Bhamburkar clarified.At this, the Chief Justice quipped, "It is okay to be so passionate but we cannot be made to suffer because of your passion."However, Bhamburkar pointed out that he has been given a 'competency certificate' which is given to a party-in-person to address the court.The CJ responded that he will re-examine that certificate."Please pass an order to this effect," Bhamburkar insisted but the bench said it would do so but would first need an unconditional apology from him.The bench adjourned the hearing till January 20, Friday.