Khushi Gupta
Published on: June 9, 2022 at 20:38 IST
In a recent case, the Telangana High Court sentenced an IPS Officer and three police officers to 4 weeks of imprisonment in a contempt case.
Justice G. Radha Rani ruled, “In the present case, the contemnors had violated the direction of the Court for issuing notice of appearance in terms of Section 41-A CrPC to the accused within two weeks from the date of institution of the case as per the directions of the Hon’ble Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar’s case.”
“Violations, which are likely to infringe upon the faith of the public in the administration of justice and the court system must be punished, to prevent repetition of such behaviour and the adverse impact on public faith.”
“Contempt proceedings are initiated to ensure compliance with the orders of the Court and adherence to the rule of law. The directions of the Hon’ble Apex Court are binding and must be obeyed by all concerned in strict sense”.
The contempt case was filed under Section 10 to 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 for not issuing notice to petitioners before issuing Look Out Circular (LOC) and Non Bailable Warrants against accused.
The 1st Petitioner was married with the complainant by way of registered marriage on 25.06.2011. The marriage didn’t work so they got separated in 2016. The 1st Petitioner shifted to Thailand with her daughter (2nd Petitioner).
When the 1st Petitioner came back to India, the complainant hatched a conspiracy and filed a complaint against the petitioners No. 1 and 2 and the 1st petitioner’s widowed sister-in-law.
No notice was issued to the Petitioners or to the widowed sister-in-law. Upon becoming aware of the FIR, the Petitioners filed Criminal Petition for quashing the same and a stay was granted on all the proceedings.
The complainant after one year in collusion with the West Zone Police officials filed another false complaint against the petitioners with an inordinate delay under Section 498A, 506 IPC, Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act and Section 30 of the Arms Act. She had suppressed the earlier registered FIR.
During the pandemic, without following the rules laid down by Honourable Apex Court in matrimonial laws, the contemnors intentionally played fraud upon the court and got issued non-bailable warrants through false submissions.
Due to the Malafide Look out Circular and Falsely Procured NBWs, the Petitioners were subjected to acute humiliation in their social circles, who were now termed as absconders, the Petition stated.
There was no abuse of process of law as such, the question of malicious prosecution would not arise as the petitioners were not arrested in the case so far, Respondents said.
In the present case, the contemnors had violated the direction of the Court for issuing notice of appearance in terms of Section 41-A CrPC to the accused within two weeks from the date of institution of the case as per the directions of the Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar’s case.
There was clear violation of the binding guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.