Delhi High Court sends man to jail for a month for threatening court commissioner with gun

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sentenced a businessman to jail for a month after finding him guilty of criminal contempt of court for threatening a court-appointed local commissioner with a gun during a judicial inspection in Faridabad [Court on its own motion v Nitin Bansal].

A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta also ordered the contemnor, one Nitin Bansal, to pay a fine of ₹2,000 failing which he will spend 15 more days in jail. 

“This Court is of the view that the non-cooperative conduct of the Contemnor, coupled with the fact that the gun was placed on the table by him during the course of the proceedings being conducted by the Local Commissioner, as recorded in the report of the Local Commissioner, sufficiently demonstrates that the Contemnor intended to obstruct the task entrusted to her by the Court,” the Court observed. 

It said that Bansal’s conduct reflected a deliberate attempt with evil motive towards the interference in the administration of justice and therefore, he is liable to be punished for criminal contempt.

“The Court, therefore, holds that the conduct of the Contemnor clearly constitutes criminal contempt. Accordingly, in terms of Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, the Contemnor is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month along with ₹2,000/- as fine. If there is non-payment of fine, the sentence shall extend for a further period of 15 days,” the Bench concluded. 

The contempt proceedings stemmed from a dispute over the disposal of 30,000 tonnes of industrial coal involving Bansal’s father, Ashok Bansal. In May 2024, a single-judge of the High Court had restrained Ashok Bansal from dealing with the coal. However, after allegations that the order was violated, a local commissioner, advocate Nandini Bali, was appointed to inspect the premises of the family’s firm.

According to the commissioner’s report, Nitin Bansal arrived during the inspection, behaved aggressively, and placed a pistol on the table to intimidate the commissioner and accompanying police officers. The police later seized the unlicensed weapon. 

Bansal claimed that it was a toy gun used to scare animals.

However, during the contempt hearings, the seized weapon was produced in court and was confirmed to be a real air gun.

After considering the case, the Division Bench concluded that Bansal’s defence was “false and misleading”.  The Court rejected Bansal’s “lip service” apology. 

While the Bench initially directed the police to take him into custody from the High Court itself, upon his counsel’s submission that there is a wedding in his family, the Court ordered him to surrender by November 6. 

Senior Advocate MC Dhingra with advocates Nihal Ahmad, HR Khan and Kashif Salman appeared for the contemnor. 

[Read Order]