New Delhi: The Gujarat High Court has ordered a police inquiry after a judge received phone calls and messages from an unknown number regarding a case listed before her.
The criminal case pertained to a man seeking anticipatory bail as he faced charges of instigating a mob to act against the police.
According to a court order passed Monday, Justice Bela Trivedi received the first call that morning, with the caller introducing himself as Niranjan Patel, an MLA from Petlad.
When Trivedi asked Patel about the purpose of the call, he referred to a criminal case listed the same day.
“At that point of time, the undersigned immediately stopped him and told him that he could not have called the undersigned like this, and disconnected the phone,” the order said.
The caller then made three more calls, which were unanswered, after which the judge received messages with the case number. The messages said, “Criminal Case No.8266 of 2020 Vijaybhai Arvindbhai .. ma aje muddat che, (is fixed today)”. This was the number of the anticipatory bail case listed before her.
During the hearing of the matter Monday, the court asked the bail applicant’s lawyer if the applicant has any connection with Patel. The court was informed that while the applicant has no connection with Patel, the latter “is very much interested to see that the petitioner is arrested, and Mr. Patel had also approached Dy. S. P. for the arrest of the applicant”.
Arvindbhai’s lawyer told ThePrint that he is seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered against him for allegedly instigating a mob to act against the police. The FIR was lodged under IPC Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from doing his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace).
“Disturbed and furious” over the call, Trivedi asked the high court’s registrar (IT) to look into the particulars of the phone number.
“Since, nobody can directly or indirectly try to approach the Court or to influence the Court, in a way try to pollute the stream of justice, it is necessary to obtain the details of the call made from the number,” the court asserted.
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‘Interfering with a case amounts to criminal contempt’
When the case was heard Tuesday, the court was informed that the number actually belonged to one Tofikbhai Vhora from Anand, Gujarat.
The court has now asked Anand’s superintendent of police to record the statements of both Patel and Vhora.
Observing that any interference with the case may result in a criminal contempt of court, Justice Trivedi said, “It is needless to say that any person doing any act whatsoever which prejudices or interferes or tends to interfere with, due course of any judicial proceeding or interferes or tends to interferes with the administration of justice in any manner, would be said to have committed a “criminal contempt” within the meaning of Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act”.
The court added that the matter “shall be viewed very seriously” if Vhora and Patel “do not state the correct facts in their respective statements”.
Trivedi is set to hear the case again Wednesday.
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