Delhi judge imposes physical punishment on 4 accused of wasting time

He ordered the accused to stand with their hands raised in the air until the end of the day’s proceedings

A Delhi judge, annoyed by time being wasted in a case, ordered the accused to stand with their hands raised in the air until the end of the day’s proceedings, leaving onlookers in the courtroom shocked at the physical nature of the punishment.

The punishment was handed out by judicial magistrate first class Saurabh Goyal while presiding over a complaint case of alleged land grab and forgery.

The punishment was handed out by judicial magistrate first class Saurabh Goyal while presiding over a complaint case of alleged land grab and forgery pertaining to a plot in Dwarka’s Palam village, in which the four persons, including a woman, stood accused.

The complainant, Harkesh Jain, alleged that in May 2018, the accused started unauthorised construction on his plot and threatened him of consequences if he intervened. In an order passed on July 15, the court noted that despite waiting and calling the case twice between 10am and 11.40am, bail bonds were not furnished by the accused.

In the last hearing, all the four accused were granted bail and directed to pay bail bonds, failure of which would lead to the imposition of a cost of ₹10,000.

“For wasting the time of the court, which is in contempt of the order duly promulgated on the last date of hearing, the accused persons are hereby held guilty of contempt of court and are convicted for the offence under section 228 of IPC (intentional insult or interruption to a public servant sitting in judicial proceedings),” the judge said.

The court directed all the four persons “to stand in the court till the rising of this court with their hands straight in the air”.

To be sure, by 12pm, all the accused persons, except one identified as Kuldeep, furnished the bail bonds; Kuldeep was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody.

Senior advocate and legal expert Sanjoy Ghose expressed concern over the order and said such punishments demean an accused, who stands innocent until proven guilty. “As punishment, they could have been asked to do public service but this is appalling on part of the judge…besides, under The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, only the High Courts and the Supreme Court have to power to punish for contempt and not district courts,” Ghose said.