STATE OF U.P. Vs. ASOK PANDE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Contempt has been registered pursuant to a Division Bench's (Hon'ble A.P. Sahi and Hon'ble Sanjai Harkauli, J.J.) order dated 10.01.2017, passed in Public Interest Litigation (hereinafter referred to as "PIL") Civil No. 383 of 2017 (Pratima Pandey v. Election Commission of India and others), which was argued as a fresh matter before aforesaid Court on 10.01.2017, by Contemner.

(2.) Finding behavior and conduct of Contemner, who argued PIL Civil No. 383 of 2017, not only as counsel for Petitioner but Court's order also shows that Petitioner was daughter of Contemner and Court found prima facie that on the part of Contemnor there was some misbehavior and conduct, with ulterior motive to lower down esteem of Court, during Court proceedings, hence, it formulated a charge against Contemner vide order dated 10.01.2017, in terms of section 15 of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act, 1971") read with Chapter 35E of Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as "Rules, 1952") and plenary powers of High Court under Article 226 of Contitution of India.

(3.) Charge framed against Contemner reads as under: "You Asok Pande, Advocate on 10.1.2017 moved an application extracted hereinabove the contents whereof were pressed into service by you openly in Court during Court proceedings in the present writ petition, clearly reveal the description of the orders passed on 6.1.2017 in Special Appeal No. 2 of 2017 and your anguish about the same describing the judicial order passed and recorded in open Court on 6.1.2017 to be an outcome of bad behaviour and misbehaviour of one of us [A.P. Sahi, J.], and that such application was moved in the presence of all concerned including Lawyers, litigants and Court officials which appears to be clearly intended to defile the image of the Court, cast insinuations and personally insult a Judge in open Court and is clearly intended to bring the Court into disrepute by making scandalous allegations that are contemptuous, which contempt coupled with your demeanour in levelling such allegations in writing that have been reduced in the form of an application by you and placed on record, amounts to a clear contemptuous behaviour as envisaged under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 defining criminal contempt that makes you liable to be punished and to be debarred from practicing in this Court in view of the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with the judgments referred to hereinabove particularly the observations made by the Full Bench in Writ Petition No. 2599 (MB) of 2014 vide order dated 5.1.2017, and therefore you are hereby called upon to answer the aforesaid charge in person or through counsel and present yourself to be tried on Monday, i.e., 16.1.2017 before the Bench concerned." (emphasis added)