The Allahabad High Court recently restrained Asok Pandey, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment for contempt of court in April, from practicing at Allahabad and Lucknow Benches of the High Court for three years [State of UP v Asok Pande]
The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Brij Raj Singh also restrained him from entering premises of the High Court at Allahabad and Lucknow during the three-year period.
"The contemnor is restrained from practicing and appearing before this Court at Allahabad and Lucknow for a period of three years. He is also restrained from entering in the premises of High Court at Allahabad and Lucknow during the said period, unless specially ordered by this Court," the Court ordered.
Pandey had requested the Court to reduce the time to three months, stating that his practice at the High Court is his only source of livelihood. However, the Court turned down the request.
“Looking into the previous act of contemnor, more specifically when earlier contemnor was restrained from entering in the premises of this Court for two years, and despite that, contemnor has not shown any improvement in his conduct, we are not satisfied with the aforesaid submission,” it said.
On April 10, the Court had sentenced Pandey to six months of simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹2,000 for using abusive language against judges during open court proceedings in 2021 including referring to them as "goondas." Pandey was also found to have appeared before a bench in improper attire, with his shirt unbuttoned.
The Court had in that order also asked him to show cause why he should not be barred from practicing before the High Court for three years. Pandey then sought recall of the entire order.
In the verdict passed on May 26, the Court noted that the recall application and the affidavit filed along with it did not state any reason for recalling the order passed in April.
“The order dated 10.4.2025 was passed after giving a thorough hearing to the contemnor. Since it is not an ex-parte order, there does not appear any reason to recall the same. The same considers at length all the submissions that were made by the contemnor. Therefore, we do not find any reason to recall the order passed after hearing the contemnor,” it said.
However, the Court heard Pandey again on the aspect of punishment. He sought the same punishment as was given to advocate Prashant Bhushan in 2020 by the Supreme Court. A ₹1 fine had been imposed on Bhushan by the top court for contempt of court
The High Court said Bhushan had faced only one contempt of court case but Pandey had earlier also been punished for the contempt of court. It noted that Pandey was sentenced to three months imprisonment in a 2017 case and also restrained from entering the High Court for two years.
“Further, he is facing six other contempt petitions. Thus, it is not possible for this Court to grant parity to the contemnor with the case of Prashant Bhushan (supra),” it added.
The Court also recorded that Pandey during the course of submissions accepted that he actually was having his shirt's top two buttons open while addressing the bench, which had initiated the contempt proceedings against him, and did not button it properly even when asked to do so.
He could not give any reason for such a conduct and for refusal to properly button his shirt, the Court said.
Therefore, it rejected his unconditional apology and found no reason to make any modification to the punishment awarded to him on April 10.
“Looking into the submission of the contemnor as also his previous conduct and punishments, we do not find any reason to accept his apology, as the same is very belated and is also not bonafide. We also do not find any reason to make any modification in the punishment awarded to the contemnor by order dated 10.4.2025 of six months' simple imprisonment and fine of Rs.2000/-, and in case of failure to pay the fine within one month, the contemnor shall undergo further imprisonment of one month.”
The Court permitted Pandey to surrender before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow, within two months from May 26 and also to deposit the fine of ₹2,000 before the Senior Registrar of the High Court within one month.
[Read Order]