Supreme Court Slams Man for Threatening Woman Lawyer with Pistol, Orders Him to Surrender Before Jail on Nov 6

The Court directed him to surrender before the jail authorities on November 6 before considering his plea against a one-month jail sentence imposed by the Delhi High Court.

The Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and Joymalya Bagchi heard the matter, which will now be taken up on November 11.

During the hearing, the Bench expressed strong disapproval of the petitioner’s conduct.

Justice Surya Kant remarked that the accused deserved to be in jail, observing that the woman lawyer had shown “magnanimity” by not filing a more serious complaint. “Despite committing all this kind of nonsense… he has not even a single word of repentance in the entire petition,” Justice Kant said. “He misbehaves with a lady lawyer and still tries to accuse her. Why should we not enhance the sentence?”

Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for the petitioner Nitin Bansal, argued that several police officials were present during the incident, disputing allegations of intimidation. He also contended that the pistol in question was an “air gun” or “toy gun.”

The Bench, however, rejected this defence, noting that Bansal had earlier misled the Delhi High Court with the same claim.

Justice Bagchi observed, “Not only did he intimidate a Court officer, a lady officer at that, but then tried to justify his act by saying it was a toy gun. That is intentional. He should be in jail.”

When the defence offered an unconditional apology, the Bench refused to consider it until the accused surrendered. Justice Kant said, “Unless he goes to jail, we are not going to entertain anything. The lady advocate showed grace and magnanimity, but this man deserves no sympathy.”

The direction came in a contempt case that originated from Delhi High Court proceedings over the disposal of 30,000 tons of industrial coal. The High Court had sentenced a man to one month’s simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹2,000 for criminal contempt after he allegedly threatened a Court-appointed commissioner with a gun during a local commission proceeding in Faridabad.

During the execution of the commission at a Faridabad premises in July last year, the Local Commissioner reported that Bansal attempted to intimidate her by placing a pistol on the table. The weapon was later found to be real, not a toy gun as claimed by the contemnor.

The Court thus declined interim relief, ordering: “No ground to entertain the interim prayer. Let the petitioner first surrender before jail authorities on November 6.”