Notice for contempt to judicial magistrate

Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 14

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed issuance of notice to the Amritsar Judicial Magistrate (First Class). He has been asked to show cause why contempt proceedings should not be initiated  against him for willfully disobeying a High Court judgment brought to his notice. 

The direction came after a Division Bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and BS Walia was told that the judicial officer had not passed an order on an application for release of a convict, to be heard by the High Court on the quantum of sentence.

“Prima facie, the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Amritsar, has not complied with the directions of this court,” the Bench asserted.

Justice Sharma directed the Amritsar Jail Superintendent to produce convict Sukhdev Raj in court. The registry was directed to prepare his release warrant.

The Bench had earlier converted the conviction and sentence of three appellants under Section 302 of the IPC for murder to Section 304 Part-I (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC. The state was directed to produce the accused for quantum of sentence.

Justice Sharma observed that convicts Sukhbir Lal and Kashmiri Lal were present in court, but Sukhdev Raj wasn’t. The state counsel submitted that an application was moved before Harpreet Singh, Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Amritsar, on January 12 for release of Sukhdev Raj, but he did not pass an order.