Advocate remarks 'I cry my beloved justice system', Delhi HC calls actions 'reckless and reprehensible'

Advocate remarks 'I cry my beloved justice system', Delhi HC calls actions 'reckless and reprehensible'

New Delhi, The Delhi High Court has expressed displeasure while terming as "reckless and reprehensible" the actions of an advocate who repeatedly remarked "I cry my beloved justice system" during a hearing and walked out of the courtroom.

Advocate remarks 'I cry my beloved justice system', Delhi HC calls actions 'reckless and reprehensible'

The high court, while taking an exception to the advocate's conduct, said it was extremely unfortunate that a counsel, who ought to have the highest regard for the process of law, was expressing loss of faith in the judicial system, creating a nuisance of himself because the order passed does not suit him or his client.

The incident took place when Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was dictating order in a case and in the midst of the proceedings, one of the parties' lawyer started walking out of the courtroom while waving his hands in the air to express his dissatisfaction.

"This counsel is clearly aligning himself entirely with the interests of his client to obtain orders which he or his client finds desirable. It appears from the unbecoming conduct of this counsel that to justify the order passed today, to his client he may now try to influence his client and instigate frivolous allegations against the judge and the judicial system," Justice Arora said in an order passed on November 3.

"In these circumstances, to protect the dignity of this court and the judicial system, this court deems it appropriate to transfer this matter to another Bench, while retaining the aforesaid directions issued to the petitioner, the landlord...," Justice Arora said.

The court also rejected the advocate's apology, observing that it was neither heartfelt nor genuine and appeared to be "just lip service".

The high court was hearing a petition filed by 91-year-old Arjun Dev Bhatia, challenging a trial court order permitting his daughter-in-law to enter his house in Pitampura as alternate accommodation under a domestic violence case.

The trial court had passed the order on October 23, after the daughter-in-law faced eviction from a rented flat where she had been residing with her husband and two children.

Bhatia, who is the absolute owner of the Pitampura house and resides there, challenged the trial court's order before the high court.

During the hearing, the high court asked whether Bhatia was willing to pay monthly rent of ₹27,500 to his daughter-in-law to enable her to continue residing in the rented flat or provide her with another accommodation of equivalent standard.

To this, his counsel submitted that Bhatia was willing to pay the monthly rent of ₹27,500 and also deposit an advance amount equivalent to six months' rent.

However, the daughter-in-law's counsel claimed that she had already vacated the rented flat and handed over its keys to the landlord and was not willing to move back even if Bhatia gives her the rent amount. This submission was disputed by counsel for her husband.

The judge directed Bhatia to deposit an amount equivalent to six months' rent with the court and asked the woman's husband to deposit any arrears payable to the landlord within two days with it.

The court issued notice to the landlord and directed him to maintain status quo on the possession of the rented flat so that the court could verify whether the premises had actually been vacated.

Terming it "extremely unfortunate", the court noted that the stand on handover of keys to the landlord was being changed repeatedly by the woman.

The court recorded in its order that while it was dictating the order, the woman's advocate four times repeated the phrase "I cry my beloved justice system", waved his hands in the air and began walking out of the courtroom while the hearing was still underway.

The court paused the proceedings and called him back, expressing surprise and displeasure over his conduct.

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