Delhi High Court: While hearing a contempt petition wherein the counsel for the petitioner had appeared with a red tape on his lips, the Division bench of Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Anish Dayal, JJ, expressed their strong displeasure at the conduct of the petitioner.
During the hearing of a contempt petition, the counsel for the petitioner, Mr. R.K. Saini, had leisurely entered in the Court room with red stickfast tape on his lips. Upon confrontation, the counsel had removed the tape from his lips which initially prompted the Court to believe that the counsel had some injuries on his face.
Upon inquiry, the counsel had informed the Court that on the last two hearings of the matter, he had been stopped midway by the Court during his arguments and had placed the red tapes on his lips symbolizing that he had been silenced.
The Court stated that during the previous hearings, the counsel’s arguments had gotten lengthy and repetitive and the Court, upon appreciating the case of the petitioner had requested the counsel to stop arguing further so that he could have the response of the counsel for the other side.
The Court noted that the conduct demonstrated by the counsel, who has a standing of more than 25 years in the profession, was in poor taste and completely unexpected.
The Court had also been prompted to pass appropriate orders against the counsel, however the Court refrained from doing so but place on record their strong displeasure at the unbecoming and unbefitting conduct of the advocate.
[Court on its own motion v. Delhi Administration THR BDO, CONT. CAS(C) No. 16 of 2016, decided on 1-12-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner: R.K. Saini, Dashmesh Tripathi, Advocates
For the Respondent: Sanjay Jain, Senior Advocate, Sameer Vashisht, Standing Counsel, Anubhav Gupta, Panel Counsel, Khushboo Mittal, Gaganmeet Singh Sachdeva, Hridyesh Khanna, Harshpreet Singh Chadha, Advocates