HC grants bail to lawyer convicted for stalking female judge

The Allahabad High Court granted bail to advocate Mohd Haroon, convicted for stalking a judge, citing his imprisonment duration and case backlog.

The Allahabad High Court granted bail to an advocate from Hamirpur district, who had been convicted earlier this year by a trial court and sentenced to four years in prison for ‘stalking’ a woman judge and making inappropriate comments about her.

(Pic for representation only)

While hearing his revision plea against the judgment of conviction, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra granted bail to Mohd Haroon, considering the nature of the offence, his imprisonment since July 2023, and the fact that his plea is not likely to be decided early due to the pendency of backlog cases.

The accused, convicted under sections 354, 354A(1)(IV), 354D and 509 of the IPC had been booked for hindering the privacy of the informant (woman judge), passing objectionable comments and staring at her now and then when she was walking out of her chamber.

According to Haroon’s counsel, the prosecution version is exaggerated and that there is no allegation against the revisionist for transmitting any undesirable audio SMS or WhatsApp message to the informant or trying to chat with her in a private manner.

It was also argued that he is a practicing lawyer and has undergone imprisonment of almost two years and thus, he had undergone half of the maximum sentence awarded in the impugned judgement.

On the other hand, the state government counsel opposed the prayer for bail and submitted that the allegation against the revisionist is of misbehaviour and stalking a judicial officer. Still, he could not dispute that the revisionist had undergone half of the maximum sentence awarded in the impugned order.