A litigant and two advocates apologised to Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya after the Supreme Court directed them for making “scurrilous and scandalous” remarks. The SC reminded that “judges of high courts are in no way inferior to judges of the Supreme Court.”
New Delhi: A litigant, along with his two lawyers, tendered an apology on Friday to Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya of the Telangana High Court, following directions from the Supreme Court, which had earlier asked them to apologise for making “scurrilous and scandalous” remarks against the judge in a transfer petition.
Justice Bhattacharya, while recording the apology, stated in her order:
“I have read the Affidavits of Apology tendered by the three alleged contemnors. I accept the apology tendered by the three alleged contemnors. The alleged contemnors shall place the suo-motu contempt before the SC as directed in the judgment of the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India. The matter is disposed of from my end.”
The apology was linked to a petition in which Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had been discharged of offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
While hearing that transfer petition, the Supreme Court on July 30 had issued a show-cause notice for contempt of court against the litigant N Pedi Raju, advocate-on-record Ritesh Patil, and senior advocate Nitin Meshram.
Later, on August 11, the Supreme Court directed the registrar general of the Telangana High Court to reopen the matter before Justice Bhattacharya. It specifically asked the respondents to tender an apology within one week so that the judge could decide whether to accept it.
At that stage, the bench led by Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai had made a key observation:
“Under the Constitutional scheme, judges of high courts are in no way inferior to judges of the Supreme Court.”
The background of this case dates back to July 17, when the Telangana High Court had quashed a First Information Report registered in 2016 against Revanth Reddy, who was then an MLA of the Telugu Desam Party.
The FIR was lodged under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and also under the Indian Penal Code.
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The complaint had been filed by N Pedi Raju, Director of Razole Constituency SC Mutually Aided Cooperative Housing Society Limited, at Gachibowli police station.
In his complaint, Raju alleged that at the instance of Revanth Reddy, his brother A Kondal Reddy along with others trespassed onto land belonging to the cooperative society in Gopanapally village.
He further claimed that they demolished a society building with an earthmover and used caste-based abuses against him.
At the time of the High Court’s decision to quash the FIR, the criminal case was still at the trial stage before the special sessions judge for SC/ST cases and the VII additional district sessions judge in Ranga Reddy district.
It was in 2020 that Revanth Reddy himself approached the High Court seeking quashing of the case. The court found that he was not even present at the location when the alleged incident took place and therefore held that the proceedings against him were not sustainable.
Now, with the Supreme Court stepping in to protect the dignity of the High Court judiciary, the litigant and his two lawyers have placed their unconditional apology before Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya. With the judge having accepted it, the matter will next move to the Supreme Court as part of suo motu contempt proceedings, in line with the directions already issued.
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