Allahabad HC initiates suo motu contempt proceedings against lawyer for concealing facts to get favorable order
The advocate had concealed the fact that the present bail plea was in fact a second bail plea and the first one had been rejected by the high court.
The single judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against a lawyer for concealing material fact regarding rejection of a previous bail plea while arguing in second bail application.
Court opined that Advocate Parmanand Gupta, prima facie, conducted himself against the Bar Council Rules, professional ethics in a contemptuous manner. "...he has played fraud with the Court and also interfered with the course of justice by misleading the Court," court held.
Moreover, the court noted that the instant matter was not a solitary case where the lawyer had adopted these tactics of concealing and misleading the court.
The order was passed in a bail cancellation application moved by the state government seeking cancellation of the order dated March 22, 2022, granting bail to the accused in a case registered under Sections 379, 411, 412, 413, 414, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 484 and 120-B IPC.
The Additional Government Advocate Ashwani Kumar Singh apprised the court that the accused had secured bail in the matter by fraud as his counsel, Advocate Parmanand Gupta, had styled his bail application as the first bail application, though in reality, it was a second bail application.
The first bail plea of the accused had been rejected by the high court on February 19, 2021.
Court held that the act of Adv Parmanand Gupta was deliberate and if the correct and true facts were mentioned by him, the alleged first bail plea (the second bail plea) would have been listed before the present bench and the bench had rejected the alleged first bail application.
Adopting a stern view, court allowed the state's bail cancellation plea and ordered that the accused be taken into custody, if already not arrested.
Apart from that, court ordered the Registry to register suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against the lawyer of the accused.
Case Title: State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Deptt. Home, Civil Sectt. Lko v. Mohd. Rizwan @ Raziwan
Statute: Indian Penal Code, the Contempt of Courts Act