HITARTH ATULKUMAR CHAG Vs. SUNIL ISHRANI , POLICE INSPECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this application under Sec. 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, applicant (original complainant) has come forward with a relief to initiate process against respondent authorities under the provisions of Contempt of Courts Act by framing charge and punish them for willful disobedience of the directions issued by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Lalita Kumari v. State of Uttar Pradesh reported in (2014) 2 SCC 1. Following are the reliefs which are sought for in the contempt application:-

(2.) Brief background of the case is that on 12/4/2023, father of present applicant committed suicide at his residential place and on the same day, suicide note was found from the place of incident which contained the reason for committing suicide. According to applicant, suicide note indicates that harassment on the part of accused persons, one of them is sitting Member of Parliament of Gir Somnath. On the same day, police authority recovered suicide note written by deceased father of applicant and recorded statement of family members and according to applicant, material indicates that it is a cognizable offence against accused, still however respondent No.1 has not registered First Information Report and thereby respondent No.1 has failed to discharge his duty. On account of this neglect of respondent No.1, applicant submitted a written complaint on 17/2/2023 for offence punishable under Ss. 306 , 114 , 405 , 406 , 506(2) and 34 of Indian Penal Code and requested respondent No.1 authority to register complaint against accused persons, still no actions are taken by respondent No.1. It is the case of applicant that he was called upon by respondent No.1 for taking further steps on 22/2/2023, but he was not present when applicant reached to police station and to the best of his knowledge, respondent No.1 proceeded on medical leave and no steps have been taken for registration of FIR. On 22/2/2023, a detailed representation was made to respondent No.1 as well as respondent No.2 by pointing out clearly to register offence and also by drawing specific attention to the observations made by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Lalita Kumari vs. State of Uttar Pradesh reported in (2014) 2 SCC 1 and also notification of State Government dtd. 6/2/2016. So much so, along with said representation, copy of notification as well as order passed by Hon'ble Apex Court were also forwarded, still nothing was proceeded which has constrained the applicant to forward several representations to various authorities on their official email as also made a complaint by WhatsApp message to CMO, Gujarat bearing No.7030930344 and also made representation to Home Minister of State of Gujarat as well and it is the grievance of applicant that despite such series of representations and requests, no actions were initiated and as such authorities are in clear defiance of the order passed by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Lalita Kumari (supra) and hence, they are to be dealt with and punished under the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act for willfully disobeying the order Hon'ble Apex Court. Hence, by invoking contempt jurisdiction of this Court, present Misc. Civil Application is submitted.

(3.) On the basis of such assertion, Coordinate Bench was pleased to issue notice on 15/3/2023 and thereafter, after submission of affidavit-in-reply and rejoinder, it has come up for consideration before us, wherein learned senior advocate Mr. Y.S. Lakhani assisted by Mr. Rajesh Kanani has represented the applicant, whereas learned Public Prosecutor Shri Mitesh Amin with learned Assistant Government Pleader Mr. H.K. Patel has represented the State authorities and since substantial allegations are against respondent No.1, learned senior advocate Mr. Jal S. Unwala has represented respondent No.1.