Jharkhand HC issues criminal contempt notice on advocate for verbal spat with judge

Ranchi: A full bench of Jharkhand High Court on Friday issued a criminal contempt notice to advocate Mahesh Tewari for alleged verbal spat with Justice Rajesh Kumar during courtroom proceedings a day before.

The five-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad, Rongon Mukhopadhyay, Ananda Sen, and Rajesh Shankar, initiated contempt proceedings against Tiwari taking cognisance of the verbal spat that took place in court No. 24 on Thursday.

Appearing before the bench, Tewari was asked by the Chief Justice to explain his conduct during the earlier proceedings. In response, the advocate said that he stood by his actions. "Whatever I said or did was well within my senses," he told the bench.

The full bench then issued a criminal contempt notice on Tewari directing him to file his response within three weeks.

The case will again be heard on November 11.

Before the proceeding was initiated, a video recording of the live streaming of court proceedings of Justice Rajesh Kumar in court number 24 on October 16 was screened in the court of the Chief Justice.

The video recording showed the heated argument between advocate Mahesh Tewari and Justice Rajesh Kumar.

Advocate Tewari had said that "The country is burning with the judiciary."

Jharkhand State Bar Council chairman Rajendra Krishna intervened in the matter and tried to pacify the situation.

The video was widely circulated on social media platforms, including YouTube and WhatsApp.