The Supreme Court has ordered a litigant, N. Peddi Raju, and his legal team to tender an unconditional apology to a Telangana High Court judge after they made what the apex court termed "scurrilous and contemptuous" allegations.
The case arose from a transfer petition filed by Raju, challenging the High Court's decision to quash criminal proceedings under the SC/ST Act against Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. Alleging bias and impropriety on the part of the judge, Raju sought the matter’s transfer - a move the Supreme Court found to be an unfounded attack on judicial integrity.
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A bench led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, along with Justices K. Vinod Chandran and Atul S. Chandurkar, observed:
"Judges of the High Courts are constitutional functionaries entitled to the same respect and immunity as judges of the Supreme Court. We cannot allow any litigant to put judges in a box by making such allegations."
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing one of the respondents, offered an "unconditional and unreserved apology" and explained the circumstances of the remarks. However, the court noted a "disturbing trend" of litigants and lawyers questioning judicial integrity, particularly in politically sensitive cases.
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Referring to a Constitution Bench ruling, the bench emphasised that both litigants and advocates could be held in contempt for making scandalous allegations against judges. The court ordered the disposed matter to be reopened in the Telangana High Court and placed before the same judge within a week. The petitioner must apologise before that judge, who will decide within a week whether to accept it.
On July 29, the Supreme Court had issued contempt notices to Raju, his advocate-on-record Ritesh Patil, and other involved lawyers, declining their request to withdraw the petition. The CJI also recalled a recent judgment favouring acceptance of apologies over punitive measures, remarking:
"Wisdom lies in forgiving rather than punishing."
