Contempt of Court - Self idolization

Recently an MLA was sent to 4 weeks imprisonment by the Apex Court for calling a sitting High Court Judge as fool.

The question is under which law this MLA was punished…..The answer is that there is no such law for which he could have been sent to jail. Let us try; he could have been punished for some of non existents among following…

1. Contempt of Court.

2. Contempt of Judge.

3. For rebuking a public servant in public.

4. Obstructing a public servant from carrying out his duty.

It is immaterial that Hon Apex Court sent him to imprisonment for Contempt of Court, but calling a magistrate or judge (even of Hon Supreme Court) by names like fool, incompetent, corrupt, stupid cannot be classified as contempt of court, unless the prosecutor (court itself) comes out with a finding that calling a judge ‘fool’ has really obstructed the functioning of the Hon Court.

Section 16 of the Contempt of Court Act is reproduced below,

16. Subject to the provisions of any law for the time being in force, a judge, magistrate or other person acting judicially shall also be liable for contempt of his own court or of any other court in the same manner as any other individual is liable and the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly.

This section clearly identifies the Hon Court and the Ld Presiding officer as two different entities. The magistrate or the judge is not the court; they are just like any other public officer. The law is about contempt of court, not about contempt of some officer, so the order of Hon apex Court in sending that MLA to 4 weeks jail is illegal and perverse without the sanction of law. He has just disrespect a Judge, he has not disrespected the Hon Court.

The case of this MLA can be specific and I am not siding with him, but the Hon apex Court must introspect that there is tremendous amount of dissatisfaction among litigants….this is entirely due to absolute inefficiency in justice delivery system for which the judicial system cannot escape the accountability, this is resulting into such outbursts against Judges, they are very common in lower trial courts.

Many a times it happens that magistrates passes orders on various applications with grounds which are absolutely nonsensical and kind of clear indication that either the presiding officer has not applied his mind or possibly due to lack of knowledge on his part (incompetence). Majority of such orders are dictated in the chamber and the parties (if not the counsels) come to know only after certified copy of the order is received, but by that time damage is done, and magistrate in all pride says, go to revision…the helpless sufferer is left with no option but to silently call such magistrate as whatever names he deems fit, this may include a very soft name…THE FOOL.

There are plethoras of orders wherein the Hon Apex Court or High Courts have made very scathing remarks, kind of personal unwarranted remarks, about various other non judicial officers of executive, but these very judges will feel edgy when someone questions their competence or intelligence or knowledge of law. Why? It cannot be said that these magistrates know all, they cannot be termed as omniscient, and they are not.

Let’s be realistic, a young 30 year old magistrate handles wide variety of legal disputes, he has some theoretical knowledge of law, and he has practically no knowledge of economics, commercial  transactions, human psychology, forensic science…practically no knowledge of such complex issues, still the fellow has to adjudicate. In such matters mistakes are bound to happen, and most of the time due to pride and arrogance these mistakes are not acknowledged and aggrieved party has the right to express his feelings by at least some parliamentary expletives. This cannot be termed as contempt of court.

The parliament must come forward immediately and not only should make the contempt of court law more clear but should also ensure proper evaluation and accountability of various orders/judgements passed by judiciary, to the extent that the same be brought out for public scrutiny and for every glaring improper and illegal order there should be provision of criminal proceedings against the presiding officer who passed that order. This should be the part of appeal by the aggrieved party.

PS: I have a question to the Hon Supreme Court of India, most of the times, the lower trial court magisterial proceedings are in violation of existing rulings of the Hon apex Court or the jurisdictional High Court, and these magistrates do not bother about the authorities shown to them for the similar circumstances and stall everything till end. Is it not the contempt of Court by these magistrates? The fact is that the Hon apex Court has miserably failed in establishing the value of precedents during the trial, and that is one of the major reasons for protracted trials. Contempt by magistrate-not punished, which leads frustration in litigants, foul language by these frustrated litigants and they are punished. That’s our judiciary.