Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Delhi High Court: In a contempt petition initiated by the Court on its own motion seeking initiation of criminal contempt against the respondent/contemnor, a Sub-Inspector posted at Police Station Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi for arrest without Section 41-A CrPC Notice in violation of Supreme Court Guidelines, a Division Bench of Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain, JJ., accepted the unconditional apology and closed the contempt proceedings.
In the instant matter, on 08-06-2024, an FIR was registered under Sections 323/295A/452/427/506/34 IPC and the investigation was entrusted to the contemnor. During the course of investigation, the contemnor chose to arrest accused persons on the ground that they did not have any permanent address in Delhi. It was alleged that the accused persons were brought to the police station and “instead of serving them with any notice under Section 41-A CrPC, the contemnor chose to arrest them.”
The Court noted that the arrest was made in complete disregard of the mandatory directions passed by the Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, (2022) 10 SCC 51 and Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273 and also in violation of the directives contained in Standing Order No. 109/2020.
The Court opined that “ideally speaking, the present Contempt Petition should have been registered as a case of Civil Contempt only…” However, considering the conduct of the contemnor, and the fact that the contemnor had admitted his lapse, tendered an unconditional apology and expressed remorse which appeared to be genuine and heartfelt, the Court accepted the unconditional apology and directed the closure of the contempt proceedings.
[Court on Its Own Motion v. Yogesh Poonia, 2025 SCC OnLine Del 10519, Decided on 22-12-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Mr. Archit Upadhayay with Mr.Piyush Gautam, Ms. Lakshita Yadav and Ms. Muskan Aggarwal, Counsel for the Respondent
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