New fashion to make allegations against judges; rampant in UP, Chennai: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday bemoaned the recent tendency to cast aspersions on judges and make frivolous allegations against them, a phenomenon which the Court said, has become a "new fashion"..A vacation bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Bela M Trivedi said that it is very rampant in Uttar Pradesh and Chennai. “Now, it is becoming a new fashion to making allegations against judges. The stronger the judge, the worse the allegations. It is happening in Bombay, rampant in UP, Madras,” the Court remarked. The Court also voiced its concerns over the physical attacks on judges. “Judges are assaulted. There is no protection of judges across our district judiciary, sometimes not even a lathi-wielding policeman,” Justice Chandrachud observed.The Court was hearing an appeal against an order of the Madras High Court finding an advocate guilty of contempt of court and, sentencing him to two weeks of imprisonment and barring him from practicing for one year.The Court refused to interfere with the High Court order and said that it found nothing wrong with the decision in light of the lawyer's poor conduct.“This man is completely incorrigible. He belongs to a class of lawyers who are absolutely incorrigible. They are a blot on the legal profession,” said Justice Chandrachud..The lawyer was found guilty of contempt on restraining the police from serving a non-bailable warrant issued by the High Court. When the police attempted to discharge their duties, over fifty advocates surrounded the police personnel, and prevented them from executing the orders of this Court. This incident was recorded digitally on CCTV cameras. .The Supreme Court also took a poor view of the appellant’s subsequent conduct of levelling allegations against the judge who issued the warrant, Justice PT Asha and even seeking recusal of another judge hearing the case.“Look at his conduct! Very contemptuous. He has no respect for the administration of justice and the finding of contempt as well as sentence cannot be regarded as disproportionate,” the bench said. .Therefore, on finding that two weeks imprisonment was actually a very lenient exercise, the top court dismissed the appeal..[Read our live coverage of the hearing here]