Adv. Nilesh Ojha, who made allegations against former chief justice, says will appeal against order; the show-cause notice seeks to know why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against Ojha for making such allegations against a sitting judge and a former chief justice of the Bombay High Court
Advocate Nilesh Ojha is representing Disha Salian’s father Satish Salian; (right) Disha Salian. File Pics
A five-judge bench of the Bombay High Court has issued a show-cause notice to Advocate Nilesh Ojha, who is representing Satish Salian, father of the late Disha Salian. Recently, Salian alleged that his daughter was gang-raped and murdered. During a press conference, Ojha made serious allegations against Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and former Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyay, who is currently the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. The show-cause notice seeks to know why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against Ojha for making such allegations against a sitting judge and a former chief justice of the Bombay High Court.
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The five-judge bench, led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe, on Monday viewed a video of advocate Nilesh Ojha making serious allegations against sitting judges during a press conference held on April 1. The press conference was related to his demand for a fresh probe into the Disha Salian case. Ojha had filed a petition in the matter, which was listed for hearing before Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale on April 2.
A day before the hearing, Ojha addressed the media, made personal allegations against the judges, and claimed that Justice Mohite-Dere was disqualified from hearing the case. He also stated that he had filed a complaint against the judges before the president of India, who, according to Ojha, had “orally” permitted his client to prosecute them.
The bench noted that instead of making a proper submission before the court seeking recusal of Justice Mohite-Dere on April 2, Ojha chose to make public statements. The court observed that these statements were made deliberately to scandalise the judge and the institution, and held that Ojha’s remarks were contemptuous and amounted to interference with the administration of justice.
The court has also directed YouTube and a television channel to take down the video from their platforms. “The Bombay High Court has issued a contempt notice over the press conference I held, during which I made allegations against Justice Mohite-Dere. The court observed that such allegations should have been made before the bench through a proper recusal application. However, I believe the court’s order is contrary to the constitutional bench ruling of the Supreme Court in the Dr Subramanian Swamy Vs Arun Shourie case. We will file an application seeking recall of the order and present our legal position in court,” Ojha said.
The court order
“The statements at the press conference with regard to the recusal of a sitting judge of this court appear to have been made deliberately to scandalise the authority of the court and a judge of this court. The statements also tend to lower the authority of the court and such allegations also interfere with due course of judicial proceedings... The statements of Nilesh Ojha, advocate are ex facie contemptuous. We are satisfied that statements made constitute criminal contempt under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.”
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