Madhya Pradesh HC initiates contempt case against BJP MLA who tried to contact judge about pending case

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed its registry to register a suo motu criminal contempt of court petition against BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sanjay Pathak for attempting to contact a High Court regarding a pending case [Ashutosh Dixit v Economic Offences Wing & Ors]. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf said that it was of the prima facie view that Pathak's conduct may amount to a criminal contempt of court.Accordingly, it directed listing of a criminal contempt of court case against him next week."This petition is disposed of with a direction to the Registry to register a suo motu Criminal Contempt Petition against Mr. Sanjay Satyendra Pathak and list the Criminal Contempt Petition before the Court on 06.04.2026," the Court ordered..In an order passed on September 1 in 2025, Justice Vishal Mishra had said that Pathak had tried to contact him on phone. Therefore, Justice Mishra had recused from the case"Mr. Sanjay Pathak has made an attempt to call me to have discussion regarding this particular matter, therefore, I am not inclined to entertain this writ petition," the judge had revealed. .The case originated in connection with a writ petition filed in the High Court seeking action against people accused of illegal mining. A man named Ashutosh Dixit had approached the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) at Bhopal levelling these allegations. He then moved to the High Court alleging inaction on the part of EOW. Dixit argued that the EOW failed to conclude the preliminary enquiry within a time-bound period.Pathak filed an application before the High Court seeking to intervene in the matter and said that he should be heard too..After Pathak attempted to contact the judge, Dixit filed a writ petition seeking judicial cognizance of the attempt to influence the Court. This plea has now been disposed of with a direction to take up the matter as a suo motu contempt case..Advocates Arvind Kumar Shrivastava and Puneet Shroti represented the petitioner.Government Advocate Anubhav Jain represented the State.Advocate Akash Chaudhary appeared for the High Court.Senior Advocate Anil Khare with Advocate Siddharth Shukla appeared for Pathak..[Read Order]