Delhi High Court sentences man to 45 days in prison for contempt of court after he demolished boundary wall against court order

The Delhi High Court on Friday sentenced a man to 45 days of simple imprisonment for demolishing a boundary wall using a JCB excavator despite the court’s orders to the contrary [Nirmal Jindal v Shyam Sunder Tyagi and Ors]..Justice Subramonium Prasad said that the manner in which the man, named Shyam Sunder Tyagi, had demolished the wall using JCB excavator indicated that he harboured the intention to terrorise the petitioners, and it demonstrated the he possessed scant regard towards the orders of the court.He undermined the dignity of the court and outraged the majesty of the law, Justice Prasad noted.“The purpose of contempt jurisdiction is to uphold the majesty and dignity of the courts of law, since the respect and authority commanded by the courts of law are the greatest guarantee to an ordinary citizen and the democratic fabric of society will suffer if respect for the judiciary is undermined,” the single-judge stated..Tyagi deserves no mercy and a strong message has to be sent to society that orders of the Court cannot be flouted by using strong-arm tactics, the Court added. .The High Court was dealing with a contempt petition filed by a woman named Nirmal Jindal. She had approached the Court in 2020 for construction of a boundary wall around her property.The Court, while noting that there was a dispute on the property, allowed her to construct the wall on the condition that the same will be demolished if the Revenue Department finds that the property indeed belonged to the other side.The Court had also granted her police protection.However, on January 3, 2022 Tyagi came with a bulldozer and a few men, and demolished the wall..An unconditional apology was filed by him before the Court but the single-judge rejected the same observing that Court’s orders were passed in his presence. The demolition of the wall happened more than a year after construction, which can only be construed as an attempt by him to willfully flout the orders passed by the High Court, it was observed.The Court ordered that he should be taken into custody and imposed a fine of ₹2,000..Advocate Vertika Sharma appeared for the petitioner.Advocate Debopriyo Moulik appeared for Tyagi.The State was represented by Additional Standing Counsel (Civil) Sameer Vashisht, and advocate Sanjana Nangia..[Read Order]