Contempt of Court: Delhi High Court sends man to jail for 6 months for demanding death penalty for HC judge

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sentenced a man to six months simple imprisonment for criminal contempt of court after he moved the Court seeking death penalty for a sitting judge of the High Court [Court on its own motion v Naresh Sharma]..A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Shalinder Kaur held Naresh Sharma guilty of criminal contempt noting that he had used “derogatory language” for the judge who had dismissed his petition and had even called the judge a ‘thief’.The Court noted that Sharma had no repentance for his conduct and actions and had refused to tender unconditional apology for his conduct.“Having considered the material placed on record, submissions of Contemnor and the counsel opposite, this Court is of the opinion that Contemnor has no repentance for his conduct and actions. Accordingly, we hereby hold the Contemnor guilty of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and consequently, we sentence him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 6 months with fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment of seven days. The Contemnor is directed to be taken into custody by HC [Head Constable] Vinod (Naib Court), who shall handover his custody to the Tihar Jail, Delhi today itself,” the Court ordered..Sharma had filed a plea alleging corruption committed by the Indian government since independence and demanded a probe into the same. His petition was rejected by a single-judge on July 27, 2023.Sharma then filed appeals against the judgment. They came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula on August 31.The Court examined the three appeals, which contained several "unsubstantiated and whimsical allegations of criminal acts" against the single-judge and the Supreme Court of India. The Court, therefore, issued show cause notice for criminal contempt of court to Sharma and listed the same before the roster bench..As the case came up for hearing before the bench headed by Justice Kait, the Court observed that it was “highly shocked” to note the averments.“The contemnor who claims to have been educated in engineering and science from one of the most reputed educational institutions of India i.e. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Bombay and in USA, is expected to respect the Constitutionality of India and have faith in the legal system of law. As a responsible citizen of the Country, the contemnor is expected to set-forth his grievances in a civilized manner, maintaining the dignity of the Court and judicial process of law.”The Court stressed that even if Sharma preferred the petitions due to outrage, he had filed a highly disrespectful reply to the show cause notices and this showed that he had no guilt.“Rather, the contemnor has stated that he has no remorse to whatever he did and he stands by the same. The contemnor has used utter derogatory language for the learned single-bench to the extent of saying that the learned single-judge is a ‘thief‟ and he has full proof of the same,” the Court noted. It, therefore, sentenced Sharma to simple imprisonment for six months. The Bench allowed his request to visit his hotel and check out before he is taken to Tihar jail..Naresh Sharma appeared in person.GNCTD was represented through Additional Standing Counsel (Criminal) Sanjeev Bhandari and advocates Kunal Mittal, Arjit Singh and Rishika.Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Rakesh Kumar and Advocate Sunil represented the Union of India..[Read Judgment]