Advocate sent to jail in Karnataka for making wild allegations against judicial system

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi recently ordered that advocate KS Anil be taken into custody and again presented before it on February 10.

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has sentenced an advocate to prison for one week for making wild allegations against the judicial system and the judicial officers in particular. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi recently ordered that advocate KS Anil be taken into custody and he should be produced before it on February 10. Anil, who is facing criminal contempt of court proceedings in the High Court, had filed a memo-cum-written submission in which he had urged that his case be transferred to another bench as he had filed a complaint against the sitting judges.

Quoting the advocate's submission, the HC in its order said, "The statement made by the accused in paragraph VI making allegations against the judges of this court clearly shows that the accused is having no regard for the judicial system. The accused is a practising advocate and the consistent behaviour of the accused on earlier occasions and today making wild allegations against the judicial system and the judicial officers in particular indicates that he is trying to demean the institution and is lowering the image of the judicial system in the public eye."

The court said it is left with no other option except to pass an order for taking the accused into judicial custody for committing contempt of court, it said. The original criminal contempt case against Anil was filed in 2019. He had been issued a bailable warrant, which he had received on October 14, 2019. He accepted another notice in May 2020. Another suo-moto contempt petition was initiated against him.

The court noted that when police authorities made an attempt to serve him the bailable warrant, he refused to respond. The police filed a detailed report to the court about this. The HC only quoted a paragraph in which Anil claimed he was ill and wanted both the Chief Justice and other judges to recuse themselves from his case and all his cases before another common bench.

Anil had alleged that all this attitude of Karnataka HC judges itself proves the severe abuse of the contempt act/law that in lack of transparency, to keep judicial corruption alive and live-streaming is not done fully. The HC in its order said, "We need not refer to other statements made in the memo at this stage as they are in the form of allegations against the judges of this court."