Himachal Pradesh High Court finds woman, two sons guilty of tampering with court records; orders community service

The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently ordered an elderly woman and her two sons to do community service for a total of six weeks across eight months after they were found guilty of contempt for tampering with judicial records [Court on its own motion V. Karam Chand & Ors].The division bench of Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua also imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on each contemnor and further imposed costs of ₹10,000 each on them.The Court found the contemnors guilty of criminal contempt for wilfully tampering with the date of attestation and date of supply in the certified copy of a judgment and decree passed by an Additional District Judge in Una. Further, the bench also held them guilty of making false submissions in an application for condonation of delay. .Besides rendering community service with a Panchayat for two weeks in a span of two months, the woman and her sons were also directed to thereafter report to the District Legal Services Authority in Una for “appropriate & suitable” work for a total period of four weeks across six months in the Village Legal Care and Sports Center at Haroli.The order was passed in suo motu contempt proceedings initiated by the High Court in connection with a regular second appeal filed before the High Court by four persons - Karam Chand, his wife Dhanno and their two sons in 2017 against judgments of lower courts in a suit. .They also had filed an application for condonation of delay of about 166 days. In response to the application, the original plaintiffs said they suspected tampering with court records. The certified copy supplied to the applicant should have carried the date ‘05.01.2016’ as date of attestation and not ‘05.11.2016’, the Court was told.After being asked to provide actual facts, the first appellate court confirmed the basis of the allegation and informed the High Court that a certified copy of the judgement and decree dated ‘26.12.2015’ was prepared on ‘05.01.2016’ and delivered on ‘07.01.2016’. A single-judge then ordered initiation of contempt proceedings. The contemnors initially tendered apology and said they had supplied the certified copy of judgement and decree as given by the counsel who conducted their cases before the lower courts. However, their apology was not accepted by the High Court..During the pendency of the proceedings, the first respondent Karam Chand died in November 2011 and the proceedings against him were closed. The other respondents then said it was Karam Chand who had pursued the case and they were not aware of any tampering.Rejecting the argument, the Court said all the respondents were appellants in the regular second appeal and power of attorney for it was signed by all of them. “Merely because the affidavit in support of the application seeking condonation of delay was that of respondent No.1 [Karam Chand], aged about 80 years, would not mean that respondents No.2-4 can be exculpated from the established tampering of Court record,” it added.The Court concluded that tampering was established and it amounted to criminal contempt of court. Accordingly, the Court held the contemnors guilty of making false assertions regarding dates of attestation & supply of the certified copy and passed the order for community service, fine and costs. [Read Judgment]