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Ajay Kumar Pandey v. In Re:- Piyush Verma, Addl. Civil Judge (Junior Division), Jalaun at Orai

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 115 of 2016)Decided 29 Jul 2016
Criminal Appeal No. 115 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The appellant, an advocate, was convicted under the Contempt of Courts Act and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, along with a direction barring him from entering the District Judgeship premises at Auraiya, U.P. for five years. While serving the sentence, he filed this appeal and, taking note of his remorseful conduct, the Supreme Court had earlier permitted him to file an affidavit of apology before the High Court, which he did on 03.05.2016. The appellant had already suffered an identical punishment in another, related case and had served six months in jail.

Decision Breakdown

The Court noted the appellant's unconditional apology and the intervention of his elderly father, and relied on its recent three-judge-bench ruling in Mahipal Singh Rana v. State of Uttar Pradesh ((2016) 6 SCALE 353) that an advocate convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude has his licence to practise automatically suspended for two years. Taking a lenient view given the apology and time already served, the Court allowed the appeal only to the extent of removing the sentence of imprisonment, while retaining the rest of the original order and additionally imposing a two-year suspension of the appellant's licence to practise. It directed that the appellant be released forthwith unless needed in connection with any other case.

Lesson Learnt

An advocate's sincere, unconditional apology and time already served can persuade a court to waive further jail time in a contempt case, but a conviction for an offence involving moral turpitude still triggers an automatic licence suspension under settled Supreme Court precedent: remorse can mitigate punishment but does not erase the professional consequences.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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