After accepting an unconditional apology, the Delhi High Court has recently discharged a man convicted of defaming judges on social media platforms. The High Court has also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on contemnor Uday Pal Singh.
The division bench of justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain accepted the unconditional apology tendered by the defendant and discharged him from the contempt proceedings.
"The contemnor has tendered an unconditional apology before this court, stating that he was unable to estimate the outcome of the video, which was uploaded by him on August 24, 2022," the bench said in the order passed on July 19.
The contemnor submitted that he is ready and willing to deposit an amount of Rs one lakh for welfare purposes so to compensate for the public time wasted in the present proceedings.
The bench has directed that the contemnor shall, within two weeks, deposit an amount of Rs one lakh, with the Registry of this Court.
The amount shall be disbursed in the manner of Rs 25,000 each in favour of the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee, Delhi Indigent & Disabled Lawyers Fund, Nirmal Chhaya for Welfare of Children and Destitute Women and the account of the Bharat Ke Veer Fund.
On May 3, 2024, the High Court convicted Uday Pal Singh of committing contempt of court.
Under the said order, the contemnor has filed an affidavit whereby stated that at the time of uploading the video on his social media handles, i.e. Facebook and Twitter on August 24, 2022, his intention was neither to defame this Court nor the Judges of the Court nor to scandalize them to lower the majesty of the Court at any point of time.
The video was uploaded by the contemnor just to express his opinion regarding the way the case was going on, he added. A contempt petition was moved by Sudha Prasad through advocate Gagan Gandhi.
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