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Yatin Narendra Oza v. Suo Motu, High Court of Gujarat and Another

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 470Decided 11 May 2026
Crl.A. No.-000669 - 2020
Justice J.K. Maheshwari · Justice Atul S. Chandurkar

Background

The appellant, a senior advocate and President of the Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association, gave a televised press conference in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in which he made sweeping allegations of corruption against the High Court registry, accused the Court of favouring the wealthy and "smugglers and traitors," and called it a "gambling den." The Gujarat High Court took suo motu criminal contempt action against him, ultimately convicting him under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, sentencing him to imprisonment till the rising of the court plus a fine, and separately recalling his senior advocate designation. He appealed the contempt conviction to the Supreme Court, which had earlier (in a related writ petition) restored his senior designation subject to his maintaining "immaculate conduct."

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the reasons given by the High Court for convicting the appellant of criminal contempt did not warrant interference: his remarks, made without any basis and without approaching the Chief Justice for an inquiry, genuinely scandalised the institution and its Registry. However, invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court chose restraint over punishment: it suspended and kept in abeyance the appellant's conviction and sentence indefinitely, so that no disqualification (including under the Advocates Act) would flow from it, on condition that the Full Court of the High Court periodically reviews his conduct every two years, with liberty to revive the conviction if he repeats similar behaviour. The Court also noted a fresh 2024 incident involving the appellant's courtroom conduct but declined to decide it, instead directing the High Court to independently decide the question of his senior designation uninfluenced by the present contempt case. The judgment closed with an extended reflection on the necessary mutual respect between the Bar and the Bench as "two wheels of the chariot of justice."

Lesson Learnt

Even where a court finds a lawyer's public remarks legally amount to criminal contempt, the Supreme Court retains discretion under Article 142 to substitute reform and supervised leniency for punishment, but such forbearance is conditional, revocable, and not a licence for repeated misconduct.

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

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