The Delhi High Court sentenced Gulshan Pahuja to six months’ imprisonment and a Rs 2,000 fine for criminal contempt, observing that he showed “no regret,” continued making scandalous submissions against the judiciary, and was “neither repentant nor deserving of any mercy.”
The Delhi High Court has sentenced YouTuber Gulshan Pahuja to six months’ imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,000 after holding him guilty of criminal contempt of court for making scandalous remarks against the judiciary in videos uploaded on his YouTube channel and during proceedings before the Court.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja imposed the maximum sentence prescribed for criminal contempt, observing that any lesser punishment could embolden the contemnor to continue making such statements in future.
The Court said,
“We also find that by not imposing adequate punishment on him, we may encourage him to repeat these acts in future and to embolden him in doing the same,”
Factual Backgrounds:
The contempt proceedings arose out of videos uploaded on Pahuja’s YouTube channel titled “Fight 4 Judicial Reforms.” In the videos, Pahuja had conducted interviews with advocates Shiv Narayan Sharma and Deepak Singh.
It was alleged that during these interviews, several derogatory remarks were made against judges and courts. The matter came to the attention of the High Court after three judicial officers flagged the videos and associated banners, requesting initiation of contempt proceedings.
The Court subsequently took suo motu cognisance of the issue and initiated criminal contempt proceedings.
Proceedings before the High Court:
During the course of the proceedings, advocates Shiv Narayan Sharma and Deepak Singh tendered unconditional apologies before the Court.
They submitted that they had not authorised the uploading of their interviews on YouTube and claimed they were unaware of the objectionable thumbnails, captions and banners accompanying the videos.
After considering their submissions, the High Court found their apologies genuine and decided to drop the contempt proceedings against them. However, the Court took a different view regarding Gulshan Pahuja’s conduct.
According to the Court, Pahuja repeatedly defended his actions instead of expressing remorse.
He claimed that the videos formed part of a public-interest campaign seeking judicial reforms and advocating for audio-video recording of court proceedings.
In its earlier judgment delivered on April 21, the High Court had already found him guilty of criminal contempt. A separate hearing was thereafter conducted solely on the issue of sentence.
During the sentencing hearing, Pahuja allegedly made further controversial remarks targeting the judiciary and the functioning of courts. He stated that he did not expect justice from the Indian judicial system and criticised what he described as increasing arbitrariness in courts.
Pahuja stated,
“adaalaton ki manmarzi badhti jaa rahi hai aur main koi nyay ki umeed nahi kar raha’ (the arbitrary actions of the courts are increasing and I am not expecting any justice).”
He further remarked,
‘manmarzi ka dusra arth taanashahi hota hai’ (the synonym for arbitrariness is dictatorship).
The Court noted that these statements amounted to comparing the judiciary with a dictatorship and further aggravated the contempt already committed.
Pahuja also questioned the manner in which the contempt proceedings had been conducted. He argued that judicial files relating to the videos were not summoned before the Court and claimed that the judicial officers referred to in the videos were not examined as witnesses. He further alleged that he had not been granted an opportunity to cross-examine those officers.
The Court, however, found that instead of demonstrating regret, Pahuja continued repeating scandalous allegations against the judiciary even during court proceedings.
ALSO READ: Obscenity In ‘India’s Got Latent’ || FIR Registered Against Popular YouTubers
The Court said,
“The contemnor shows no regret for the same. He also does not suggest any course correction. In fact, he maintains that what he did was with the intent of improving the judicial system. As noted by us in this order hereinabove, he, in fact, compounds his contempt by making further scandalous submissions before this Court and thus, evidently he is neither repentant nor deserves any mercy,”
Taking note of the repeated statements made by Pahuja and his refusal to express remorse, the High Court concluded that the case warranted the maximum punishment available under contempt law.
Accordingly, the Bench sentenced him to six months’ simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 for criminal contempt of court.
However, the Court suspended the operation of the sentence for a period of sixty days to allow Pahuja an opportunity to challenge the judgment before the Supreme Court of India.
Advocate Harsh Prabhakar assisted the Court as Amicus Curiae along with advocates Dhruv Chaudhry, Shubham Sourav and Vijit Singh. Advocates Vivek Kumar Tandon and Laxmi Gupta appeared on behalf of the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee. Senior Advocates Sacchin Puri and Sanjeev Sagar, along with several assisting advocates, represented Shiv Narayan Sharma and Deepak Singh. Pahuja appeared in person before the Court, while Public Prosecutor Aman Usman along with advocate Manvendra Yadav appeared for the State.
Case Title: Court On Its Own Motion Vs Shiv Narayan Sharma Adv and Ors.
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE