Allahabad High Court imposes ₹2k fine on man for accusing judges of corruption

The Allahabad High Court on Monday imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on a man after finding him guilty of contempt of court for falsely accusing High Court judges of corruption [State of UP v. Devendra Kumar Dixit]..A bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Brij Raj Singh found that the contemnor Devendra Kumar Dixit had made a frivolous and baseless complaint in 2016 in which he had alleged that High Court judges had taken money for dismissing a writ petition filed by him.The Court observed that such an act scandalises and lowers the authority of the Court. “We hold contemnor-Devendra Kumar Dixit, … guilty of having committed criminal contempt of this Court as envisaged under Section 2(c)(i) of the Act, 1971, but looking to his old age and the fact that this is his first offence, we impose only a fine of Rs.2,000/- to be deposited by him before the Senior Registrar, High Court, Lucknow within a period of one month from today, failing which he will undergo simple imprisonment of one week,” the Court ordered. .The contempt proceedings had been initiated against Dixit in 2016 on the orders of the then Acting Chief Justice. In response, Dixit told the Court that he had made the complaint to the President of India and was not aware how it reached the High Court. He had thus sought a copy of the covering/forwarding letter of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.However, the Court had turned down the request, with the observation that such letter has no concern with the contempt proceedings. In January this year, the Court proceeded to frame the charge against Dixit. He then reiterated his demand for supply of the covering letter, arguing that it was required by him to prove his case..On March 5, the Court went ahead with final hearing of the matter and reserved the decision. In the judgment delivered on March 24, the Court said that it had already rejected his request since he himself had admitted the contents of the complaint written by him.“Therefore, there is no justification as to why the covering letter/forwarding letter issued by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi is required when he himself had admitted the contents of the complaint dated 30.04.2016,” it added.Having read the complaint, the Court ruled that its contents clearly come within the purview of criminal contempt. He has scandalised and lowered down the authority of the court, which amounts to interference in the administration of justice, it said.Consequently, Dixit was held guilty after the Court also recorded that he had not filed an affidavit to tender his apology..Advocate Indra Bhushan Singh represented contemnor DK Dixit, who also appeared in person..[Read Judgment]