Advocate sent to jail in Karnataka for making wild allegations against judicial system
Bengaluru, Feb 8: The High Court of Karnataka has sentenced an advocate to prison for one week for "making wild allegations against the judicial system and the Judicial Officers in particular".
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi recently ordered that advocate K S Anil be taken into custody and again presented before it on February 10.
Anil, who is facing a criminal contempt of court proceedings in the HC had filed a memo-cum-written submission in which he had urged that his case be transferred to another bench as he had filed a complaint against the sitting judges.
Quoting the advocate's submission, the HC in its order said, "The statement made by the accused in paragraph 6 making allegations against the Judges of this Court clearly shows that the accused is having no regards to the judicial system. The accused being a practicing advocate and consistent behavior of the accused on the earlier occasions and today making wild allegations against the judicial system and the Judicial Officers in particular indicates that he is trying to demean the institution and is lowering the image of the judicial system in public eye."
The Court said it is left with no other option except to pass an order for taking the accused into judicial custody for committing contempt of Court, it said.
The original criminal contempt case against Anil was filed in 2019. He had been issued a bailable warrant which he had received on October 14, 2019. He accepted another notice in May 2020. Another suo-moto contempt petition was initiated against him.
The court noted that when police authorities made an attempt to serve him the bailable warrant, he refused to respond. The police filed a detailed report to the court about this.
The HC only quoted a paragraph in which Anil claimed he was ill and wants both the Chief Justice and other judges to recuse themselves from his case and all his cases before another common bench.
Anil had alleged that "All this attitude of KAR HC judges itself proves the severe abuse of Contempt act/law that in lack of transparency, to keep judicial corruption alive and live-streaming is not done fully."
The HC in its order said, "We need not refer to other statements made in the memo at this stage as they are in the form of allegations against the Judges of this Court."
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K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
