Gulshan Bajwa vs Registrar, High Court Or Delhi

2024 INSC 74 REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 577/2007 GULSHAN BAJWA ...APPELLANT(S) VERSUS REGISTRAR, HIGH COURT OF DELHI & ANR. ..RESPONDENT(S) With M.A. 256/2017 in CONTEMPT PETITION (C) No. 64/2007

With SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (Crl.) No. 9689/2018

With DIARY No. 44408/2018

ORDER

1. The Criminal Appeal No. 577/2007 arises out of the common

judgment and order of the High Court of Delhi (“High Court”)

dated 19.10.2006 in Criminal Contempt Case Nos. 16 of 2006

and 17 of 2006.

2. By virtue of the impugned order, the High Court exercising

its suo motu contempt jurisdiction, convicted the sole

appellant herein, a practising advocate and a former army

personnel, under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (“Act”)

Signature Not Verified and sentenced him to civil imprisonment of three months Digitally signed by SONIA BHASIN Date: 2024.01.30

which was to run concurrently and a fine of Rs. 2,000, each 18:22:23 IST Reason:

in both the contempt cases.

1 3. Facts in the lead matter: On 17.08.2006, in a writ petition

before the High Court, the appellant, appearing as counsel,

sought an adjournment. After granting an adjournment, the

Court noticed the appellant’s conduct relating to giving

threats to the lady counsel who was appearing for the other

side. Thereafter, the High Court passed an order directing

him to explain his conduct. The order is reproduced herein

for ready reference:-

“Learned Counsel for the petitioner states that he wishes to file some applications and requests for adjournment. Request is allowed.

At this stage, after the request for filing the applications was allowed, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner while going back passed a comment on the lady Advocate opposing him in the case and appearing for the respondents. She brought it to the notice of the Court and we requested the Counsel appearing for the petitioner to come back, which he did.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner made a threatening remark to her, saying that now she be prepared for the consequences. Shri Dipak Bhattacharya (Advocate), who was also present in the Court duly confirmed that he overheard this remark being made to the lady Advocate appearing for the respondents. We find this attitude of the Counsel appearing for the petitioner to be undesirable and needs to be deprecated and dealt with in accordance with law. It is unfair for any Counsel to give any threats to the Counsel appearing on the other side, as all of them appear as officers of the Court and assist the Court or their respective clients. However, before we direct any further action or issue notice for contempt, learned Counsel for the petitioner made a request and the case is directed to be listed for tomorrow.

List on 18.8.2006.”

4. On 18.08.2006, when the matter was called out, the

appellant failed to appear. Therefore, the Bench adjourned

2 the matter to 21.08.2006. In fact, a counsel standing in the

courtroom at that time undertook to personally inform the

appellant about the next date of hearing. Surprisingly, the

appellant had filed an application seeking transfer of the said

writ petition to a different bench of the High Court, even

though he failed to physically appear in the matter. Later in

the day, a counsel appearing on behalf the appellant made a

request for an adjournment on the ground that the appellant

was unwell. That said, the standing counsel for the Union of

India, who was also present in the same court at that time,

informed the Bench that the appellant was seen in the court

premises earlier in the day. Nonetheless, in the interest of

justice, the Bench adjourned the matter to 21.08.2006.

5. Thereafter, even on 21.08.2006, the appellant failed to

appear. However, he had filed applications in the same

matter making reckless and unsubstantiated allegations

against the judges of the High Court. Clearly, by failing to

appear and filing baseless allegations, the appellant had

disobeyed the orders of the Court. In fact, it also came to the

knowledge of the High Court that the appellant herein has

frequently filed transfer applications on behalf of his clients,

3 without their knowledge. Therefore, by its order dated

21.08.2006, a Division Bench of the High Court issued a

notice to the appellant asking him to show cause as to why

proceedings under the Act should not be initiated against him

(Suo Motu Contempt Case No. 16 of 2006).

6. Around the same time, another Division Bench of the Court

had also initiated suo motu contempt action against the

appellant after noticing that he had filed an application in a

writ petition, where he had made certain improper allegations

against the Judges. Even in this contempt proceeding as well

as the writ petition, the appellant failed to appear. However,

he was filing applications day-after-day making reckless

allegations against the Judges. While issuing a show-cause

notice on 08.08.2006 (Suo Motu Contempt Case No. 17 of

2006), the High Court noted as follows:

“We have looked into the statement made in the application, which is registered as CM No. 9695/2006. Having gone through the same, we direct for issuance of a notice to the petitioner to show cause why appropriate action under the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act or otherwise shall not be initiated against him. Notice shall be issued to the petitioner by the registry of this Court without process fee and shall be served by the Process Serving Agency of this Court, returnable on 3rd October, 2006.”

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7. Both the suo motu contempt proceedings were tagged and

listed for 22.08.2006. However, neither on that date nor on

subsequent dates did the appellant appear.

8. Multiple ways were adopted to secure the presence of the

appellant, without any avail. The appellant was not to be

found on the addresses mentioned and hence, service of

notice under the Act could not be completed. As a last resort,

the High Court issued bailable warrants against the

appellant. Upon failure to secure the appellant’s presence

even then, non-bailable warrants were issued. The said

warrants could also not be executed since the appellant was

not available on any of the addresses mentioned.

9. After numerous attempts, the High Court directed the Deputy

Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, to be present in Court.

Upon his appearance in Court, the Deputy Commissioner of

Police, New Delhi was directed to ensure the presence of the

appellant in Court. Soon thereafter, on 18.09.2006, he was

produced in Court. On the same day, while the Appeallant

was released upon furnishing a personal bond, he was

arrested by the Police of Uttarakhand in furtherance of

another non-bailable warrant issued by a Family Court in a

5 case filed by the appellant’s wife for execution of a decree.

The High Court noted that even during this time, the

appellant failed to appear before the Court, instead, he was

filing applications challenging the jurisdiction of the Court in

issuing such warrants.

10. This is a long-drawn case in which the appellant has been

committing successive acts of contempt. There are about

seven instances which the High Court has taken into

account, where the conduct of the appellant came under

scrutiny in different proceedings. In all those cases, the

egregious act of contempt of the appellant was recorded.

These instances in short are as follows:

(i) In a case concerning his dismissal from service,

the matter got carried up to this Court. While dismissing

a review petition filed by him, this Court noted the

allegations and insinuations made by the appellant

against the conduct of the judges of this Court. While

referring the matter to the Bar Council, this Court

observed as under

“We have carefully perused the review petition as well as the documents annexed therewith, but we find no merit in the review petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.

6 Having regard to the allegations and insinuations contained in the review petition, there is justification for action under the Contempt of Courts Act, against the petitioner. However, considering his background as is apparent from the record of the case and the apparent frustration caused to the petitioner as a result of his losing his appeal before this Court, we do not propose to initiate any action under the said Act, since the respondent has preferred the review petition in-person. However, we notice that the petitioner is an Advocate and is practising as an Advocate-on-Record in this Court. The conduct of the petitioner in filing a review petition containing such baseless allegations and insinuations reflecting on the conduct of Judges of this Court does call for closer scrutiny, as to whether his conduct does no credit to the noble profession to which he belongs. However, since that matter is not within our jurisdiction and it is only the Bar Council of India which is empowered to take appropriate action, we refer this matter to the Bar Council of India for such action as it may consider appropriate.”

(ii) In Suo Motu Contempt Case No. 16 of 2006, the

appellant had filed transfer petitions seeking transfer of

the underlying matter as well as the suo motu contempt

proceeding before a different bench of the High Court.

Admittedly, he had filed the transfer petition on grounds

which were devoid of the writ petitioner’s knowledge.

The transfer petitions filed by the appellant in this

matter, along with the various other matters, were

firstly placed before the then Acting Chief Justice of the

High Court, and pursuant to his order dated

24.08.2006, the matter was listed before the same

7 Bench which issued notice in Suo Motu Contempt Case

No. 16 of 2006 on 21.08.2006. It has to be stated here

that the original writ petitioner in this writ petition was

personally present in the Court on 29.08.2006 and

stated that he had not read the content of the transfer

petition nor did he sign the transfer petition.

(iii) In a different writ petition before High Court, in

which the appellant was appearing as a counsel, he had

filed an application wherein he made allegations against

the Judges of the High Court as well as this Court. He

also alleged that the transfer petitions were never placed

before the then Acting Chief Justice of the High Court,

thus, causing injustice.

(iv) In W.P. No. 245 of 1986 before the High Court, the

appellant had filed a written submission, where he had

made the following statement (we have deliberately

redacted the names of the Hon’ble Judges of this Court

and that of the High Court to maintain the decorum of

these proceedings. The details are however, available in

the order impugned before us):

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‘The following Hon'ble Judges declined to hear the personal matters of the petitioner— (1) ... (2) ... (3) ... (4) ... (5) ...

In addition, from time-to-time, the following Hon'ble Judges also declined to hear the petitioner's personal matters— (6) ... (7) … (8) … (9) … (10) ... (11) ... (12) ... (13) ... The said refusal stemmed partly from the death of Hon'ble Mr. Justice …'s son and the death of Hon'ble Mr. Justice … as a result of the written curse (‘shrap’) made by the humble petitioner;

Hon'ble Mr. Justice …'s son, too, died, and Hon'ble Mr. Justice … has been paralysed for life.’

(v) Further, in W.P. No. 5183 of 2005 before the High

Court, the appellant had filed a written submission,

where he had made the following statement (we have

deliberately redacted the names of the Hon’ble Judges

of this Court and that of the High Court to maintain the

decorum of these proceedings. The details are however,

available in the order impugned before us):

“Apparently, it is the ego of the judicial office and the accompanying powers—which can be used or mischievously abused/misused, which is making him ill-treat the Hon'ble Members of the Bar and to act in a whimsical, vengeant and harassing manner towards me, in particular. But the learned Judge overlooks the fact that he is not the Lord Almighty and there are Members of the Bar who are close to the real Lord Almighty—for example, I wrote to the then Hon'ble Chief Justice of India and therein cursed that the way justice had been delayed, there will be delay in medical aid and one son of Mr. Justice … shall die; his son died within 4 days. Again, I wrote to His Lordship that Mr. Justice … shall die—he died within 7 days. Similarly, Mr. Justice …. died, Mr. … (retired Judge) has been

9 paralysed for life, Mr. Justice … is also suffering with medical problems, etc. Since then at least 13 Hon'ble Judges have declined to hear my personal matters— including Mr. Chief Justice …”

(vi) In CM 9695 of 2006 in WP (C) No. 9244 of 2006

before the High Court, the appellant had filed a written

submission, where he had made the following statement

(we have deliberately redacted the names of the Hon’ble

Judges of this Court and that of the High Court to

maintain the decorum of these proceedings. The details

are however, available in the order impugned before us):

“3. That several Universal Legal Maxims/Principles/Premises—which are followed by all the civilised Nations, have been given a go-by in several legal cases (including the instant case) and the same is palpably apparent on the face of the record.

Hence, the humble Applicant hereby curses that one son/child of each of the individuals who passed the motivated orders shall die prematurely—and so shall it happen soon. Bismillah! In this regard, it is pertinent to mention that it is on the written record of the Hon'ble Supreme Court that the applicant herein had stated in writing that one son of the then Mr. Justice … would die—he died within 4 days, that the then Mr. Justice … would die—he, too, died within 7 days. And the then Mr. Justice …'s son also died, Mr. … (retired Judge) has been paralysed. Moreover, ACM … (the individual, who had tried to harass the humble Applicant) was not only himself paralysed, but his daughter also committed suicide and his son died in an air-crash. It is pertinent to mention that blatant and motivated abuse of their powers by certain public officials has occasioned miscarriage of justice against the ex-servicemen/servicemen, and their said acts are an open instigation to the ex- servicemen/servicemen to abuse their powers, too in any case, this is a reason enough for lowering the morale of the Armed Forces personnel who may even

10 refuse to fight against the intruders to save the lives of such corrupted individuals. Hence a copy of this Application is being sent to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.”

(vii) Lastly, the High Court noted that in a matter where

the appellant was appearing before a Division Bench of

the High Court, the appellant sought an adjournment

in the matter and requested listing the matter a day

after the next day owing to an out-station matter. While

granting an adjournment, the Bench listed the matter

for the next day. The next day when the matter was

called for hearing, it was again adjourned. It is the claim

of the appellant that the same was done out of

vengeance since one of the Judges on the Bench had a

pre-existing tiff with the appellant.

Findings of the High Court:

11. While analysing the conduct of the appellant, the High Court

summarised his contemptuous acts in the following words:

“(a) Use of undesirable language as afore-noticed with an intention to malign the Court and to lower the dignity of the Court. The intention is obvious i.e. transferring of the cases in which he is the petitioner himself or Counsel for the petitioner unless you are willing to pass favourable orders only in those cases, failing which the threats were extended to the various Courts with dire consequences resulting from the curse written or otherwise of the said person. This amounts to apparent interference with the administration of justice and extending undesirable threats to the Courts.

11 (b) Wild allegations are made in the transfer petitions filed by the said person without getting them signed from the petitioner concerned and in fact even without bringing it to the notice of the client as to what application was filed, obviously with an intention to hamper the administration of justice and making allegations in other cases, wherein he was not a petitioner, to browbeat the Courts and filing applications even without the knowledge and contents of the application being known to the petitioners in those cases.

(c) Extending threats in presence of the Court to Ms. Rekha Palli, Advocate for the respondents of facing dire consequences in the case filed by the petitioner. This was done in presence of the Court and the threats extended were even overheard by a senior member of the Bar Mr. Deepak Bhattacharya (Refer to order dated 17th August, 2006).”

12. The High Court categorically noted that the appellant has

prima facie committed criminal contempt of court and the

magnanimity shown to him has resulted in doing acts and

omissions of graver nature, thus, treating the tolerance as

weakness of administration of justice. The High Court held

that the acts are intentional, malicious and have persisted

over a long period and are now clearly interfering with the

administration of justice and lowering the dignity of the

Court.

13. Having recounted the above-referred incidents, the High

Court through its judgment and order dated 19.10.2006

found the appellant guilty of criminal contempt and awarded

a punishment of simple imprisonment of 3 months along with

a fine of Rs. 2000, in each contempt proceeding. It is basing 12 this conviction and sentence that the appellant has filed the

instant appeal.

Proceedings before this Court:

14. While admitting the appeal, this Court by order dated

16.04.2007, granted a stay of the impugned order dated

19.10.2006. Thereafter, the record of proceedings are replete

with requests for adjournments, and finally, by order dated

01.08.2023, one of us, vacated the interim order and directed

that the case will be heard without any further adjournments.

Thus, we heard the appellant and have also permitted him to

file written submissions. The written submissions were filed.

Submissions before this Court:

15. The appellant made the following submissions: (i) notice in

one of the connected matters was issued by a Judge who is

still a member of this Court. Therefore, it is the submission

of the appellant that these matters should be heard by a

bench presided over by that particular Judge; (ii) none of the

connected matters are related to the contempt petition.

Therefore, they must be de-tagged and be heard separately;

(iii) the Court Martial proceedings which were relied upon by

13 the High Court are not relevant to the present proceedings;

(iv) the matters before the High Court, in which the appellant

was appearing as a counsel, were being adjourned without a

pass-over being granted on the first call; (v) the threat given

to the lady advocate was nothing but elderly advice; (vi) no

show cause notice in the contempt proceedings was served

on him; (vii) all the transfer petitions and the underlying

matters were transferred to one single bench without

following the rules framed by the High Court relating to

assignment of matters; (viii) the Judges who heard his case

and issued notice under the Act were biased against him; and

(ix) the appellant challenged all other proceedings initiated

against him on the ground that the authorities conducting

such proceedings were biased against him.

16. We have also heard the learned counsel for the Respondent.

It was their submission that the order impugned herein has

been rendered after a detailed consideration of the material

placed before them. It was submitted that the appellant had

appeared before the Court pursuant to service of show cause

notice under the Act, and the submission that there was no

proper service of notice is not correct. It has also been

14 contended that till date, the appellant has never apologised

for his actions. In fact, even before this Court, he has been

writing letters making reckless allegations against Judges

and the Judiciary.

Analysis:

17. At the outset, we note that the order impugned herein is a

detailed one, which considers and answers each and every

aspect of the matter. While imposing the punishment, the

High Court relied on a decision of this Court to highlight that

judicial independence ought to be protected from acts

maligning the reputation of judicial officers1. Further, the

High Court also reiterated the finding of this Court, wherein

it was highlighted that a contemnor ought to be punished

with imprisonment for making libellous and motivated

allegations against the Court and its Judges which interfere

with the administration of justice2. Furthermore, the High

Court highlighted the importance of protecting and upholding

the dignity of the Court and the majesty of the law as also

observed previously by this Court 3. We are in complete

1 M.B. Sanghi, Advocate v. High Court of Punjab & Haryana, (1991) 3 SCC 600. 2 Pritam Pal v. High Court of M.P., Jabalpur, 1993 Supp (1) SCC 529. 3 Ajay Kumar Pandey, Advocate, In Re, (1998) 7 SCC 248.

15 agreement with the decision of the High Court on the need to

maintain the dignity and reputation of judicial officers and to

protect them from motivated, libellous and unfounded

allegations. We are also of the opinion that the High Court

was correct in not accepting the apology tendered by the

appellant since it was not bonafide and lacked in sincerity,

apart from being belated and a mere ‘lip service’.

18. The submissions made before us are also not appealing. Even

here, the appellant is trying to resort to forum shopping by

asking us to refer the matter to a judge who had issued notice

in a connected matter. The appellant has failed to see that

notice in the lead matter was issued more than a decade and

half ago. While the appellant seeks to de-tag the court martial

proceedings as if they are unconnected to the egregious act

of contempt, we note that those proceedings were not of a

client of the appellant, in fact, the appellant himself was

subjected to court martial proceedings, and he was in fact

appearing as a party-in-person. We do not see two different

lives here. The appellant contemnor is the petitioner in the

court-martial proceedings.

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19. It is also incorrect to say that there was no service of notice

on the appellant. The appellant had in fact appeared before

the Court after issuance of notice under the Act. Making an

assertion that there was no service of the notice is factually

wrong. The appellant, while making an allegation of bias

should have supplemented it with cogent material, which he

has failed to do. This again, is an irresponsible statement.

20. With respect to the other arguments made by the appellant

before us, we are of the view that the High Court has

elaborately dealt with the same and they require no

interference or indulgence by us.

21. The appellant’s conduct before the High Court and for that

matter, even before this Court, amounts to undermining the

system of the law and interfering with the course of justice

administration. The High Court observed a pattern in the

behaviour of the appellant. He has had a habit of

misbehaving with a Bench which is not agreeing with him.

The misbehaviour goes to the extent of casting aspersions

and threatening the Judges hearing the matters.

22. We are of the opinion that the High Court correctly rejected

the apology. An apology must evidence remorse with respect

17 to the contemptuous acts and is not to be used as a weapon

to purge the guilty of their offence 4. Further, an apology

lacking in sincerity and not evidencing contriteness, cannot

be accepted5.

23. Having considered the order impugned before us in detail and

having perused the way the appellant has conducted the

proceedings before this Court, and after giving our anxious

consideration, we are of the opinion that the finding of

conviction against the appellant warrants no interference.

However, considering the age of the appellant and taking note

of his submission that he is suffering from certain medical

ailments, we modify the sentence imposed by the High Court

from imprisonment for three months till the rising of the

court.

24. The three other connected matters being (a) M.A. 256/2017

in Contempt Petition (C) No. 64/2007, (b) SLP (Crl.) No.

9689/2018, and (c) Diary No. 44408/2018 are not related to

the present criminal appeal and, therefore, we de-tag them

and direct them to be listed for hearing separately.

4 M.Y. Shareef v. Hon’ble Judges of High Court of Nagpur, (1955) 1 SCR 757. 5 Omesh Saigal and State v. R.K. Dalmia, 1968 SCC OnLine Del 179 and L. D. Jaikwal v. State

of U.P., (1984) 3 SCC 405.

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25. In view of the above, Criminal Appeal No. 577/2007 arising

out of SLP (Crl.) No. 1756 of 2007 against Final Common

Judgment and Order dated 19.10.2006 passed by the High

Court of Delhi in Criminal Contempt Cases Nos. 16 & 17 of

2006, is dismissed, subject to the above modification of the

sentence till the rising of the Court.

26. Pending applications, if any, are disposed of.

27. No order as to costs.

……..……………………………….J. [Vikram Nath]

.………….………………………….J. [Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha]

New Delhi;

January 30, 2024

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