Lawyer in jail for creating ruckus in court, threatening the judge

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) recently sentenced a 55-year-old lawyer from Parbhani, who threatened and tried to stop a trial court judge from sentencing his rape accused client, to simple imprisonment for a week.

Ramchandran Kagne was the defence counsel for a man accused of raping a minor girl. On October 7, 2005, after recording evidence, the ad-hoc additional sessions judge of the trial court, Ashok Bilolikar, started to dictate the judgment in the open court, holding the accused guilty.

The judge then asked the accused to put forth his say on the quantum of sentence. Angry, Kagne got up and started shouting at the judge.

He snatched the writing pad of the stenographer and flung it in court, which hit assistant public prosecutor RR Sharma in his face.

A court peon brought back the writing pad and handed it over to the stenographer.

Kagne snatched it and flung it again. He then threatened the judge, daring him to pronounce the sentence.

Bilolikar reported the matter to the high court, seeking action for contempt of court against the lawyer. The HC held the lawyer, who has 18 years of practice to his credit, guilty of interfering with the administration of justice.

“Interference in the administration of justice by giving threats, snatching the diary and addressing the judicial officer in a loud voice are definitely serious acts, more so when such acts are carried out by an advocate who is the officer of the court,” said a division bench of justice TV Nalawade and justice Vibha Kankanwadi, while convicting Kagne.

The division bench said under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, fine is a rule and imprisonment an exception. “We have no doubt in our minds that this is an exceptional case involving an advocate who is the officer of the court. Obstruction in the judicial process by an advocate cannot be tolerated.”