Delhi High Court on Friday slammed the allegations made by the Bar Council of Delhi on the conduct of a trial court judge who was allegedly roughed up by some lawyers in Rohini court complex a month ago leading to the arrest of four lawyers.
A special bench comprising Justice Mukul Mudgal, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Vikramjit Sen questioned the credibility of the report submitted by a three-member fact-finding committee set up by Ved Prakash Sharma, chairman of Bar Council of Delhi, which alleged bad behaviour on the part of the judge who was at the receiving end of the scuffle.
"The fact-finding committee has been appointed by the bar and it does not say anything about the conduct of the lawyers," the Bench said raising questions over the committee's findings.
Hearing an application filed by the lawyers seeking dropping of contempt proceedings against them, the Bench also made it clear to the five accused lawyers facing criminal contempt charges for allegedly slapping the judge that if the charges are proved court would take stern action against them.
"You cannot take the law in your hands," said the Bench to senior advocate K T S Tulsi who appeared for the accused lawyers.
Tulsi said that there have been incidents in the past where the judge had misbehaved with the litigants and lawyers. Trashing the submission, the Bench asked if there were any complaints that were made against him in the past. It also asked the counsel to produce such complaints before it.
"The Bench and Bar are the part of the same process. If respect of the court is lost then the respect of the Bar will also be lost. Come and tell us if the judge is behaving in unseemingly fashion. You can't take matter in your own hands," the Bench said.
Seeking dropping of contempt charges, Tulsi said the trial judge has already registered an FIR and this was concealed from the fact-finding committee set up by the Delhi Bar Council. "If the learned judge in his report had perhaps informed the HC that he had lodged an FIR then the court would not have taken the step of contempt against the accused."
"Section 10 of the Contempt of Courts act says that FIR and contempt proceedings for the same incident could not go together," said Tulsi. Meanwhile, the Bench also decided to appoint an amicus curiae to assist the court in this matter. However, the name is yet to be finalised. On July 8, Additional District Judge Pankaj Gupta, who presided over the court while dealing with cases under the Hindu Marriage Act at Rohini district courts, was allegedly slapped and manhandled by a group of lawyers.
