Allahabad High Court orders FIRs and contempt proceedings after courtroom vandalism
The bench of Justices Ajay Bhanot and Divesh Chandra Samant directed that FIRs be filed against lawyers involved in a recent courtroom attack and referred the case for criminal contempt action.
A bench of Justice Ajay Bhanot and Justice Divesh Chandra Samant ruled that a group of lawyers who ransacked a courtroom, damaged furniture and assaulted court staff and government counsel must face criminal charges. The judges said the incident was accompanied by a false narrative on social media that sought to tarnish the High Court’s reputation.
The bench recommended that the Registrar General ensure FIRs are registered for incitement to violence, conspiracy, vandalism and for those who posted false information online, and that the offending posts be removed. It also referred the matter to the Chief Justice for criminal contempt proceedings against the lawyers, stating that the court cannot ignore such conduct in the name of bar-bench harmony.
"Appeasement of violence in Court will make the Courts vulnerable to blackmail and not prevent recurrence of violence. Violence is not sated by appeasement. Violence can be curbed by bringing the perpetrators to justice and by establishing the deterrence of law," the bench said.
The judges rejected claims that Justice Bhanot had forced a lawyer to apologise to a police superintendent or threatened imprisonment, calling those allegations “a total falsehood and a deliberate one.” Senior Advocate V.P. Srivastava was praised for speaking truth amid the unrest.
The court noted that the seating arrangement for officials in the courtroom was intended to facilitate assistance to the judges and had not been objected to previously. It condemned the “propagandist scale of falsehoods” spread on social media, warning that such disinformation threatens the credibility of the judiciary.
Government counsel Paritosh Kumar Malviya, who was assaulted during the chaos, reported severe injuries and threats for defending the state. The bench emphasized the need to guide younger members of the bar toward professional values and respect for court traditions.