Supreme Court directs Jharkhand lawyer to tender unconditional apology in High Court over his viral spat with judge

A bench has disposed of the petition, granting Mahesh Tiwari the liberty to file an unconditional apology before a five-judge high court bench which had issued contempt notice against him in October last year.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked a Jharkhand-based lawyer to tender an unconditional apology before the high court in a suo-motu contempt proceedings which stemmed from a viral court-room exchange where he allegedly told a judge, “Don’t cross the limit.”

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi disposed of the petition, granting Mahesh Tiwari the liberty to file an unconditional apology before a five-judge high court bench which had issued contempt notice against him in October last year.

The top court requested the high court to consider the apology “sympathetically.”

"Aggrieved by the criminal contempt notice the petitioner is before us.. while explaining at length that the petitioner did not mean to cause disrespect to Hon’ble judge or obstruct the judicial proceedings….the learned senior counsel submits that the petitioner is extremely repentant and is willing to render unconditional apology," it said.

“Having regard to the above mentioned stand, we dispose of this with liberty to the petitioner to submit an affidavit of unconditional apology before the high court. We request the high court to consider the apology sympathetically,” the bench ordered.

During the hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the lawyer, submitted the petitioner was "extremely repentant" and prepared to render an unconditional apology.

However, the bench expressed stern reservations regarding the conduct of the lawyer.

The CJI remarked on the lawyer’s apparent defiance, stating, “Why cannot he explain this before the judges? This is his obstinate character. Let him face them... let him explain. If he wants to show eyes there... let him show and then we will see. We know how to deal with this.”

Justice Joymalya Bagchi also referred to the declining standards of courtroom decorum.

“In every strata of judiciary... there are issues that creation of friction becomes a matter of professional pride,” he said.

Dave said the era of live-streamed proceedings has created new challenges, stating, “These video proceedings of court hearings have become a menace. A notice for the lawyer is enough to destroy the career.” The controversy dates back to October 16, last year during a hearing before Justice Rajesh Kumar at the Jharkhand High Court.

The lawyer was representing a client seeking the restoration of an electricity connection.

While he offered a deposit of Rs 25,000, the court cited precedents requiring 50 percent of the total arrears.Although the matter was eventually resolved with a Rs 50,000 deposit, the situation escalated after the case concluded.

Justice Kumar reportedly made observations regarding the lawyer's manner of argument and asked the Chairman of the Jharkhand State Bar Council to take cognisance of his conduct.

In response, the lawyer approached the bench and asserted he would “argue in his own way,” telling the judge, “Don’t cross the limit.”

Clips of the live-streamed proceedings went viral on social media.

A five-judge bench of the high court, comprising then Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad, Rongon Mukhopadhyay, Ananda Sen, and Rajesh Shankar, took suo-motu cognisance of the matter and issued a notice to the lawyer.