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TMI Blog2004 (4) TMI 606X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se contemners guilty against whom the element of doubt was completely eliminated. Affidavit evidence if based on hearsay has been excluded. Contemners against whom there was single identification were also given the benefit of doubt. The version put forth by the appellants was not accepted as it fell short of proof. High Court has considered the entire evidence on the record while recording a finding of guilt against the appellants. Thus the plea that the High Court did not take into consideration the affidavits of independent witnesses is not tenable. The plea of ali bi taken by the appellants has been negatived by the High Court as the duty charts had been prepared by these officers themselves. None of the superior officers supported their versions. Presence of most of the appellants had been confirmed by the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, Shri Barai, the other two Court officials, advocates, the reports of Director General of Police and the Superintendent of Police. None of these has any interest in falsely implicating any of the appellants. Conclusion: The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, directing the appellants to surrender and serve their sentences. The Court also direct ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he same be placed for hearing on the next date. Shri K.D. Choudhary, one of the appellants who was an office bearer of the Policemen's Association at District Level and was posted as SHO of the Police Station in the evening of the same day went to the Chambers of Shri Barai for release of Shri Jokhu Singh on execution of a personal bond. Shri Barai did not agree. Thereafter he approached the District Magistrate and on the basis of his advice he met the District Judge and renewed his demand for release of Jokhu Singh, which was declined. On 18th November, 1997, when the bail petition of Jokhu Singh was taken up, the learned counsel appearing on his behalf made a prayer seeking withdrawal of the bail application. Accordingly, the bail application was dismissed as withdrawn. Soon thereater, a large number of police officers (without uniform), armed with lathis and other weapons and shouting slogans against Shri Barai, barged into his court room. The court peon Shri Bishundeo Sharma who tried to shut the door was brutally assaulted. Shri Barai apprehending danger to his life, rushed to his Chambers and managed to bolt the door. Unruly mob forcibly broke open the door, overpowered ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act were initiated and a direction was issued to the Registry to issue notices to the above referred persons along with a copy of the report, containing allegations against the concerned persons, calling upon them to show cause as to why suitable action be not taken against them for the alleged misconduct. The show cause was made returnable by 25th November, 1997. The Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police were directed to affirm on affidavits regarding the steps taken by the State Government in the matter relating to the incident. On 25th November, 1997, all the contemners appeared through their respective advocates. On a request made the hearing was postponed to 10th December, 1997 to enable them to file their detailed replies to the show cause notice. Chief Secretary filed his affidavit indicating that the Director General-cum-Inspector General of Police after holding a detailed inquiry, had in his report, disclosed names of nine police officials namely (i) K.D. Choudhary, the then Officer Incharge, Kotwali, (ii) Ranjit Pandey, the then Sergeant Major, Bhagalpur, (iii) Ms. Shashi Lata Singh, the then S.I., (iv) K.B. Singh, the then Thana Incharge, Harijan P.S. Bhaga ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dent and identified certain more names, like Awadhesh Singh, Subodh Kumar Yadav and Aswan, Vice-President of the Association who, according to him, had also taken part in the alleged assault. The court issued notices to these three persons also calling upon them to show cause why they be also not proceeded for the criminal contempt. The officials whose statements had been recorded were directed to file their additional or supplementary replies to the show cause on the next date of hearing. On 10th December, 1997, all the contemners appeared and filed additional or supplementary replies to show cause notice. The Superintendent of Police in his supplementary reply disclosed names of 14 more police officials and constables, who, as per his inquiry, had also taken part along with the main persons named earlier. They are (i) Ram suresh Singh 'Nirala', SI, (ii) Sriram Singh, ASI, (iii) Ram Rekha Pandey, SI, (iv) Shivji Singh, SI, (v) B.N. Singh, ASI, Kotwali, (vi) Sukh Narain Sharma, SI, (vii) D.D. Singh Officer Incharge, Tatarpur P.S., (viii) Gopalji Prasad, SI, (ix) Madhusudhan Sharma O/c Sultanganj P.S., (x) Awadesh Singh, Constable, (xi) Subodh Kumar Yadav, Constable, (x ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... how cause notice had been issued to 26 persons. Except for one or two the remaining asserted that they were not involved in the incident and were on duty elsewhere at the relevant time. In proof of such defence they attached their duty chart etc. After considering the relevant evidence on the record, and after taking due care and caution to see that innocent persons are not punished the High Court dropped the proceedings against the contemners other than Shri K.D. Choudhary, Ms. Shashi Lata Singh, Daroga Singh, P.K. Singh, Rajib Ranjan Bhagat (Dayal), Gurubachan Singh, C.D. Jha, K.N. Singh and Ranjit Pandey. Shri K.D. Choudhary was found to be the ring leader of the contemners and was imposed with the punishment of undergoing simple imprisonment for a period of three months and the remaining eight to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two months. It was made clear that the discharge of rule of contempt notice of the proceedings against the other seventeen would not absolve them of their misconduct and guilt for their respective offences, if any. In other words, the departmental proceedings initiated by the State Government and the criminal cases registered against them wou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as according to them there were conflicting versions of the incident; (iv) reasonable and adequate opportunity was not afforded to the appellants either to defend themselves or put forward their case; and (v) affidavits of independent witnesses which were on record have not been dealt with by the High Court. Answer to the first point would depend upon the interpretation to be put on Section 10 of the Act. Section 10 which deals with the power of the High Court to punish for the contempt of subordinate courts reads: "10. Power of High Court to punish contempts of subordinate courts.- Every High Court shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction, powers and authority, in accordance with the same procedure and practice, in respect of contempts of courts subordinate to it as it has and exercises in respect of contempts of itself: Provided that no High Court shall take cognizance of a contempt alleged to have been committed in respect of a court subordinate to it where such contempt is an offence punishable under the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)." According to the learned counsels appearing for the appellants the proviso to Section 10 means that if the act by whic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urt to take cognisance of such a case was expressly barred under section 2(3) of the earlier Contempt of Courts Act, when the allegations made in the article in question constituted an offence under section 499, Indian Penal Code. On behalf of the appellant it was argued that what the sub-section meant was that if the act by which the party was alleged to have committed contempt of a subordinate court constituted offence of any description whatsoever punishable under the Indian Penal Code, the High Court was precluded from taking cognizance of it. This argument was repelled and this Court said (at page 429) :- "In our opinion, the sub-section referred to above excludes the jurisdiction of High Court only in cases where the acts alleged to constitute contempt of a subordinate court are punishable as contempt under specific provisions of the Indian Penal Code but not where these acts merely amount to offences of other description for which punishment has been provided for in the Indian Penal Code. This would be clear from the language of the sub-section which uses the words "where such contempt is an offence" and does not say "where the act alleged to constitut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the confidence of the people in the courts which are of prime importance to the litigants in the protection of their rights and liberties." These two judgments have been followed recently in Arun Paswan, S.I. vs. State of Bihar & Others [2003 (10) SCALE 658]. We respectfully agree with the reasoning and the conclusions arrived at in these cases. "Criminal contempt" is defined in Section 2 (c) of the Act, to mean: "(c) "criminal contempt" means the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which - (i) scandalises or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or (ii) prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or (iii) interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner;" Section 228 of the Indian Penal Code provides: "228. Intentional insult or interruption to public servant sitting in judicial proceeding.- Whoever intentionally offers any insult, or cau ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the offence. The Courts cannot be compelled to give "command orders". The act committed amounts to deliberate interference with the discharge of duty of a judicial officer by intimidation apart from scandalizing and lowering the dignity of the Court and interference with the administration of justice.The effect of such an act is not confined to a particular court or a district, or the State, it has the tendency to effect the entire judiciary in the country. It is a dangerous trend. Such a trend has to be curbed. If for passing judicial orders to the annoyance of the police the presiding officers of the Courts are to be assaulted and humiliated the judicial system in the country would collapse. The second contention raised on behalf of the appellants is that the High Court cannot on its own motion take action of a criminal contempt of a subordinate court. According to the learned counsels the High Court can take cognizance of a criminal contempt under Section 15 (2) of the Act of a subordinate court only on a reference made to it by the subordinate court or on a motion made by the Advocate General. Since the procedure as laid down in the High Court Rules and Orders had n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rintendence over all courts and tribunals throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction. The Court of Revenue Board, therefore, in the instant case, is a court "subordinate to the High Court" within the contemplation of Section 10 of the Act. 17. Section 14 provides for the procedure where contempts is committed in the face of the Supreme Court or a High Court. Section 15 is very material for our purpose. It provides in regard to cognizance of "criminal contempt" in cases other than those falling under Section 14. The material portion of Section 15 reads thus : 15. (1) In the case of a criminal contempt, other than a contempt referred to in Section 14, the Supreme Court or the High Court may take action on its own motion or on a motion made by - (a) the Advocate General, or (b) any other person, with the consent in writing of the Advocate General. (2) In the case of any criminal contempt of a subordinate court, the High Court may take action on a reference made to it by the subordinate court or on a motion made by the Advocate General or, in relation to a union territory, by such law officer as the Central Government may, by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hold that the High Court could initiate proceedings on its own motion under the Contempt of Courts Act against the appellants. On the facts of this case apart from the report sent by the 5th Additional District & Sessions Judge of the incident, Young Lawyers Association had also filed a writ petition. The Presidents of the three Bar Associations and the Advocate General were present and heard before initiating the proceedings for the criminal contempt. It has been noted by the High Court that "all the three Presidents of the High Court Associations and the Advocate General arrived at the conclusion that a prima facie case of criminal contempt was made out against the contemners". This shows that the Advocate General of the State was also of the opinion that prima facie a case for initiation of proceedings for criminal contempt was made out and he was a consenting party to the initiation of the proceedings. The third contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellants is that the standard of proof required in the criminal contempt is the same as in a criminal charge and therefore the charge of criminal contempt has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. That the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tempt proceedings are to be decided expeditiously in a summary manner the convictions have been recorded without extending the opportunity to the contemners to cross examine those who had deposed against them on affidavits. Though the procedure adopted in this case was summary but adequate safeguards were taken to protect the contemners' interest. The contemners were issued notices apprising them of the specific allegations made against them. They were given an opportunity to counter the allegations by filing their counter affidavits and additional counter/supplementary affidavits as per their request. They were also given opportunity to file affidavits of any other persons which they did. They were given opportunities to produce any other material in their defence which they did not do. Most of the contemners had taken the plea that at the relevant time they were on duty in their respective Police Stations though in the same town. They also attached copies of station diaries and duty chart in support of their alibi. The High Court did not accept the plea of alibi as all these papers had been prepared by the contemners themselves and none of the superior officer had supported s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dge personally but protecting the administration of justice. The threat of immediate punishment is the most effective deterrent against misconduct. The Judge has to remain in full control of the hearing of the case and he must be able to take steps to restore order as early and quickly as possible. The time factor is crucial. Dragging out the contempt proceedings means a lengthy interruption to the main proceedings which paralyses the court for a time and indirectly impedes the speed and efficiency with which justice is administered. Instant justice can never be completely satisfactory yet it does provide the simplest, most effective and least unsatisfactory method of dealing with disruptive conduct in court. So long as the contemner's interests are adequately safeguarded by giving him an opportunity of being heard in his defence, even summary procedure in the case of contempt in the face of the court is commended and not faulted." In the present case the High Court had decided to proceed with the contempt proceedings in a summary manner. Due opportunity was afforded to all the contemners and after verifying and cross checking the material available before it, coming from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... port thereof. They had attached their duty charts showing that they could not have been present at the place of occurrence as they were on duty somewhere else. High Court has considered and discussed the entire evidence present on the record before recording the conviction. The contention that the affidavits of independent witnesses were not considered cannot be accepted. Only those were convicted against whom corroboration of the fact of their presence and participation in the incident was confirmed from more than one source. Plea that reasonable and adequate opportunity was not afforded to the appellants is equally untenable. We find from the record that all the material (affidavits, show cause notice etc.) which were brought on record was properly served on the learned advocates appearing for the contemners. The reports submitted by the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, District Judge affidavit of Shri Barai and his staff, namely, R. Dass and B. Sharma and the other affidavits of the advocates who had seen the occurrence and the reports submitted by the Director General of Police and the Superintendent of Police were given to the learned advocates who were appearing in the contemn ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts of independent witnesses is not tenable. Learned counsel for the appellants tried to point out that the appellants were not present at the scene of incident as the appellants were on duty elsewhere. He made reference to their duty charts which had been placed on record. We find that the presence of S/Shri K.D. Choudhary, Ranjit Pandey, Ms. Shashi Lata Singh, K.B. Singh, Gurubachan Singh, Daroga Singh, Prem Kumar Singh, Rajeev Ranjan Bhagar and C.D.Jha, appellants herein has been confirmed by several persons. The plea of ali bi taken by the appellants has been negatived by the High Court as the duty charts had been prepared by these officers themselves. None of the superior officers supported their versions. Presence of most of the appellants had been confirmed by the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, Shri Barai, the other two Court officials, advocates, the reports of Director General of Police and the Superintendent of Police. None of these has any interest in falsely implicating any of the appellants. It is unfortunate that neither the criminal proceedings nor the disciplinary proceedings or the inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act have been concluded. No doubt the appel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es us to make observation that there is something basically wrong with the police in Bihar. Misconduct amounting to gross violation of discipline committed not by a single individual but by so many collectively and that too by those who have formed an association consisting of members of a disciplined force in uniform was not promptly and sternly dealt with by the State or its senior officials so as to take care to see that such incident, even if happened, remains solitary incident. Faced with the initiation of contempt proceedings, the persons proceeded against did not have the courtesy of admitting their guilt and tendering an apology which if done could have been dealt with mercy. They decided to contest, of course the justice administration system allows them the liberty of doing so ____ and they had every right of doing so ____ but at the end it has been found that their pleas were false and their denial of charges was aimed at prolonging the hearing as much as they could. We are shocked to learn that the criminal courts seized of trial of the accused persons on substantive charges for offences under the penal law of the land are awaiting the decision of this appeal? Why for? ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le of justice apart from bringing a bad name to an indispensable organ of the executive wing of the State. Police is the executive force of the State to which is entrusted the duty of maintaining law and order and of enforcing regulations for the prevention and detection of crime. (Encyclopaedia Britanica, Vol.58, p.158). The police force is considered by the society as an organised force of civil officers under the command of the State engaged in the preservation of law and order in the society and maintaining peace by enforcement of laws and prevention and detection of crime. One who is entrusted with the task of maintaining discipline in the society must first itself be disciplined. Police is an agency to which social control belongs and therefore the police has to come up to the expectations of the society. We have not been able to forget the policing role of the police of British Raj wherein an attitude of hostility between the police and the policed under the colonial rule was understandable. It is unfortunate that in one of the largest constitutional democracies of the world the police has not been able to change its that trait of hostility. Long back Sardar Patel had sai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t example". Professor R.Deb's description of an ideal police is ___ "He should never forget that, like every other citizen he too is subject to the Rule of Law, and is legally responsible for his actions in carrying out his duties, for he who enforces law must live by the law. In discharging his onerous duties and responsibilities under the law the policeman must eschew all temptations to have recourse to short- cuts and extra-legal methods. He must also be absolutely honest, impartial and fair even to the worst legal transgressor. In fine he must be the ideal citizen and a true servant of the people in the performance of his duties under the law." (ibid, p.9) After all, what the learned Addl. Sessions Judge had done. Jokhu Singh had appeared as a witness. His cross-examination was not concluded without which his testimony was liable to be excluded from being read in evidence. The learned Judge had exhausted practically all means for securing the presence of the witness. He would neither attend nor make any communication to the Court. Even the threat of initiation of proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act did not deter him from abstaining. To secure his pre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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