Comments by Shimla-based lawyer Vikas Sanoria against a district court judge, who is daughter of a HC judge, also lands him in jail for a month.
New Delhi: The Himachal Pradesh high court last week directed its registry, in a first, to ensure deletion of the Facebook account of a Shimla-based legal aid lawyer convicted for contempt of court.
After initiating contempt proceedings in July against Vikas Sanoria on its own, the court found that he had made certain comments against a Shimla district court judge, daughter of a sitting judge of the Himachal HC. A copy of the judgment was made available Monday.
Sanoria, who was appointed by the state government from May 2016 to May 2018, has been sentenced to one month imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000.
The court did not elaborate on how the registry will ensure deletion of Sanoria’s Facebook account.
Late Sunday, Sanoria wrote on Facebook that his posts from 29 June to 27 July were mysteriously deleted by “someone”. He added that he removed the remaining controversial posts to ensure compliance with the court order.
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The case
In June, Sanoria posted a Facebook comment on a case after it was decided against his client who was seeking release of his vehicle before Vatsala Chaudhary, Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate in Shimla.
Chaudhary is the daughter of Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary, the second senior-most judge of the Himachal Pradesh HC.
A division bench of the high court comprising Justices Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Chander Bhusan Barowalia issued a contempt notice to Sanoria in July, asking him to appear before the court.
However, the advocate did not appear citing his father’s sickness, prompting the judges to issue a bailable arrest warrant against him.
On 31 July, in the second hearing itself, the court restrained Sanoria from operating his Facebook and other social media accounts, including WhatsApp, so that he could not post “directly or indirectly any scurrilous, offensive, intimidatory or malicious posts against any individual(s) or institution(s).”
‘Fit of rage’
Sanoria didn’t comply with the order and posted about receiving summons from the court. His post came despite an initial undertaking that he will refrain from making comments on the judiciary.
“Court on its motion__(Loose motion___,),, since daughter of sitting JUSTICE saheb. To dekhte jnaabjee…..haha (sic),” the court noted Sanoria as posting.
After this July post, the court held over seven hearings and decided the case in less than a month. The court appointed Ashok Sharma, Advocate-General of the state, as amicus curie. The state’s top law officer also cross-examined Sanoria.
During the hearings, the lawyer apologised to the court and judge Chaudhary, and said his “posts were made inadvertently by me in a fit of rage/anger as it took seven days to get the vehicle release application.”
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However, the court refused to accept his apology and pronounced the verdict just a day after it finished hearing the arguments.
“Evidently, the language used by the respondent is intemperate and contemptuous and above all, this petition is loaded with sarcasm and innuendos and, therefore, this court has no hesitation to conclude that the respondent has made deliberate attempt to interfere with the due course of judicial proceedings and such action could be construed to be obstructive or attending to obstruct the administration of justice,” the court said, pronouncing Sanoria guilty of contempt of court.