A high-voltage drama unfolded in the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday, as a petitioner, appearing in person, allegedly abused the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, threw papers inside the courtroom and disrupted judicial proceedings. Later, he was escorted out by the security personnel.
The incident took place at 11 am on Friday before a Bench of Justices KV Vishwanathan and Alok Aradhe, which was hearing cases on a partial working day.
A still from the incident
Clip goes viral, petitioner refers to judges as ‘Judicial Servants’
A video of the incident has been gaining traction online. The petitioner, identified as Prabal Pratap, introduced himself before the SC bench as ‘ the sovereign’ and called the judges ‘judicial servants.’ He demanded thereafter that the court direct the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against the Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Lucknow, alleging that the officer was operating a cyber-crime syndicate.
Addressing the Bench, he said, “Mr Judicial servant, I order you to direct the officials to register an FIR against Lucknow ASP, for running a syndicate in cybercrime.” The untoward and unpredictable comments drew a surprising reaction from Justice Viswanathan, who asked, “You are ordering me? You are ordering us?”
Pratap escorted out after disruption of proceedings
The situation further took a grave turn when Pratap allegedly made derogatory and abusive remarks against CJI Kant and threw papers into the air, impeding the court proceedings.
When the situation escalated, court security personnel immediately intervened and escorted him out of the courtroom. He was then detained for a brief period at the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) located within the apex court’s premises.
The hearing was interrupted for a brief span of time and resumed normally thereafter.
Bench chooses not to initiate contempt proceedings
Despite the outburst, the Bench decided not to initiate contempt proceedings or take any coercive action against the petitioner.
Pronouncing the order, Justice Viswanathan said, “We do not propose to take any action against him (Pratap). As far as the merits of the case are concerned, we have perused the records. We find no good grounds to interfere with the impugned order. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed.”
Later, the bench also remarked on the petitioner’s conduct, saying, “He is very disturbed….it’s all frustration. We only have sympathies for him.”
Justice Viswanathan
Details of the case
The matter had been listed before the top court, which arose from the petitioner’s challenge to an order passed by the Allahabad High Court (HC).
The petitioner had sought to challenge a decision of the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate (Customs), Lucknow, who had directed that his application be treated as a private complaint instead of ordering the registration of an FIR.
The HC had earlier junked his writ petition, observing that he had an effective alternative legal remedy available against the magistrate’s order and granting him liberty to approach the forum concerned.
After examining the records, the SC found no reason to interfere with the HC’s ruling and dismissed the Special Leave Petition, bringing the litigation to a halt.