Chandigarh, February 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today sentenced dismissed Punjab police official Balwinder Singh Sekhonand “legal expert” Pardeep Sharma to six months simple imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each after holding them guilty of criminal contempt. The verdict against the two came as the Bench made it clear that a trial was not required in view of the smearing and other factors.
Sekhon then raised the slogans of “Judicial Gundagardi Murdabad” in the open court, making the Bench to observe he had “further compounded the contempt” and it was not in a position to give a lesser sentence.
The Bench asserted: “Mud-slinging by way of open publication, and representation of such malicious material being circulated not only at the national but international level, amounts to inciting people at large against the rule of law and against one of the basic wings of the democratic set up under the Constitution of India consisting of the legislature, executive and the judiciary. Thus, it gives us no reason to postpone the proceedings for requiring any trial”.
The Bench of Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan also made it clear there were enough judicial precedents that “evidence will not have to be led for delaying the matter and for quick dispensation of justice in such like cases to ensure that the message goes home”.
Sekhon had been circulating malicious, libelous and derogatory videos on judicial proceedings. Appearing before the Bench this morning, Sekhon said he had the right to freedom of speech and expression, being a citizen of India. He did not admit the contents of the videos/ transcripts and “rather got personal with the court when his plea of defence was being recorded and his conduct was derogatory in nature,” the Bench observed.
Sharma, on the other hand, clearly admitted his presence in the offending videos and the transcripts. For some of the “derogatory remarks”, he shifted the onus to Sekhon. Sharma added he did not attribute anything to a Supreme Court Judge, who was “most honest” and he had “full regard” for him.
The Judges observed: “We have been a part of the system for 40 years. Have you seen their body language?” The Bench added it had seen the videos and there was “no dispute regarding the identity of the persons involved in the videos”. The transcripts of the videos were “per se derogatory, malicious, libelous and against the constitutional authorities and this institution in principle”
The Bench also observed it was undisputed that the videos were featuring on the platforms of respondent-Facebook, YouTube, Twitter andthe intermediaries. Apparently, there were almost 37000 subscribers. The number of viewers as of now was uncertain, which would be manifold.
“Keeping in view the fact that contempt was committed, for which the respondent have no remorse, both the contemners are convicted and sentenced…. They shall undergo the sentence at Model Jail, Burail, UT, Chandigarh,” the Bench added.
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