Contempt Petition Moved Before Supreme Court Against Two Sitting Bombay High Court Judges And An NCP MLA

A contempt petition has been filed by Rashid Khan Pathan before the Supreme Court against the sitting Bombay High Judges Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh. The contempt petition also arrays Hasan Mushrif, a National Congress Party (NCP) MLA and the Registrar General of Bombay High Court as Respondents No. 3 and 4.  The petition is filed under Rule 3 of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975 read with Articles 129 and 142 of the Constitution of India.

The Petitioner alleges that Justice Revati Mohite Dere failed to recuse herself from hearing cases of her family members are directly or indirectly involved. The Petitioner also alleges that she adjudicated many matters concerning the National Congress Party (NCP) even though her sister Vandana Chauhan is a Member of Parliament from the same party.

The Petitioner alleges that the bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh, in a criminal writ petition before them, granted relief to NCp MLA Hasan Mushrif with respect to an FIR, despite availability of crucial prima facie material with the investigating officer. It is also alleged that the bench entertained allegations of mala fides against BJP spokesperson Kirit Somaiya, in his absence.

The contempt petition alleges that Justice Dere has committed contempt by acting in defiance of many settled legal principles by the Supreme Court and granted bail in the case of Chanda Kochar V. CBI to the person accused under economic offence running into thousands of crores with an unreasoned order.

It is also alleged that through a non-speaking order, the judge granted interim bail to an accused MLA charged with an offence under Section 307 IPC. It is alleged that the judge adopted the modus operandi of passing non-speaking orders and deliberately not mentioning the serious charges against the person seeking relief. 

The Petitioner has alleged that Justice Dere is in the habit of deliberately committing gross contempt of the judgements of the Supreme Court and has laid several alleged instances where the ratio laid by the Supreme Court has not been adhered to. 

The contempt petition reads, "that this Hon’ble Court had time and again warned all the Judges, authorities, and citizens that any disregard of the binding judgement cannot be taken lightly and the guilty should be punished because no one is above the law". Further, that "under these circumstances and in order to preserve the majesty and dignity of the court it is just and necessary that appropriate strict action should be taken against Respondent No. 1, 2 & 3."

The petitioner in support of his allegations has relied on various judgements such as State of Chhattisgarh and Another vs. Aman Kumar Singh and Others 2023 SCC Online SC 198, Ram Pratap Yadav Vs. Mitra Sen Yadav (2003) 1 SCC 15, Gullapalli Nageshwara Rao Vs. Andhrapradesh 1959 Supp (1) SCR319, State of Punjab Vs. Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar (2011) 14 SCC 770, Mineral Development Vs. State of Bihar (1960) 2 SCR 609, Supreme Court Advocate-On-Record Association Vs. Union of India (2016) 5 SCC 808, C.S. Karnan, In re, (2017)7 SCC 1 and many more.

Cause Title: Rashid Khan Pathan v. Justice Revati Mohite Dere & Ors. Diary No. 12076 of 2023