Both the Judges are accused of committing gross contempt of Supreme Court’s binding guidelines for protecting accused MLA in a cheating case.
Petitioner gave various others instances of repeated contempt by Justice Revati Mohite – Dere in granting relief to influential people by committing forgery and perjury of High Court records and passing orders in gross contempt of Supreme Court judgements.
The judiciary is one of the most critical pillars of democracy, ensuring that justice is delivered impartially and fairly to all. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, being the highest court of the land, plays a crucial role in upholding the rule of law and ensuring justice for all. The directions and order issued by the Supreme Court are binding upon all the authorities including Judges. Failure to follow the Supreme Court judgement makes the concerned authorities including Judges liable for punishment under Section 2(b), 12, 16 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and Article 129, 142 of the Constitution of India. Earlier Supreme Court had sent Justice C.S. Karnan to jail by sentencing him to six months imprisonment. [C.S. Karnan, In re, (2017) 7 SCC 1]
However, recent events have raised concerns about the conduct of some judges, in not following binding precedents and granted relief to undeserving accused, which threatens the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
In the recent case of State of Chhattisgarh and Another vs. Aman Kumar Singh and Others 2023 SCC Online SC 198, the Supreme Court directed that the court should not take judicial notice of allegations of malafides in initiating criminal prosecution when the person accused of such malafides, such as Ministers, are not made party respondents in the petition. This directive was aimed at preventing the court from prejudging the merits of a case and focusing solely on the legal issues at hand.
Unfortunately, it appears that two judges of the Bombay High Court and MLA Hasan Mushreef have acted in disregard of this precedent and are committing gross contempt of court.
Respondent No. 1, Smt. Justice Revati Mohite Dere, has been accused of committing contempt by granting relief to MLA Hasan Mushreef in Contempt of Supreme Court guidelines. In the said case Shri. Kirit Somaiya was not a party respondent but then also allegations of malafides against him were pleaded and entertained by the bench of Justices Smt. Revati Mohite Dere & Smt. Sharmila Deshmukh.
The petitioner alleges that Respondent No.1 Smt. Justice Dere had also committed Contempt of various other binding precedents of the Supreme Court such as in Ram Pratap Yadav v. Mitra Sen Yadav, (2003) 1 SCC 15 while granting bail to accused persons who had committed serious economic frauds worth thousands of crores and were involved in a conspiracy to attempt to murder police officials. This is a clear violation of the court’s precedent and established legal principles.
Moreover, Respondent No. 1 Justice Dere has also been accused of violating various laws laid down by the Supreme Court regarding the recusal and disqualification of judges in hearing cases where their family members are directly or indirectly connected. She allegedly heard cases related to the Nationalist Communist Party despite her sister, Smt. Vandana Chauhan, being a member of parliament of the said party. This is a blatant disregard of the court’s precedents such as Gullapalli Nageshwara Rao Vs. Andhra Pradesh 1959 Supp (1) SCR319, State of Punjab Vs. Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar (2011) 14 SCC 770, Mineral Development Vs. State of Bihar (1960) 2 SCR 609, Supreme Court Advocate-On-Record Association Vs. Union of India (2016) 5 SCC 808, and various other binding judgments.
The petitioner had requested the Supreme Court that to preserve the majesty and dignity of the court, it is essential that appropriate strict action be taken against Respondent No. 1, 2, and 3. The petitioner prays that the Supreme Court must act swiftly and decisively to restore public trust in the institution and reaffirm its commitment to upholding the rule of law. This will send a strong message that no one is above law and the judiciary will not tolerate any misconduct or violation of established legal principles by few Judge and will ensure that justice is delivered impartially and fairly to all.
Prayers of the Said petition;
(a) To hold that the Contemnor No. 1, 2 & 3 Smt. Justice Revati Mohite – Dere, Smt. Justice Sharmila Deshmukh & Mr. Hasan Mushrif have acted in utter disregard, deliberate defiance and wilful contempt of the Supreme Court judgments which is explained in the memo of this petition and thereby they undermined the majesty and dignity of the Supreme Court and bring it in to dispute and therefore they are liable to be punished under Section 2(b), & 12 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 r/w Article 129 of the Constitution of India;
(b) To hold that in view of law laid down in Somabhai Patel’s case (supra) the continuance of accused Judges in the High Court will have serious impact on the other litigants and therefore in order to withdraw their judicial work, the procedure laid down in the ‘In-House-Procedure’ as explained in Additional District and Sessions Judge ‘X’ (2015) 4 SCC 91 needs to be followed and therefore the Secretary General of the Supreme Court be directed to place the matter before the Hon’ble CJI;
(c) Pass any other order which this Hon’ble Court deems fit & proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.
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