The Madras High Court recently directed the police to initiate criminal action against Advocate R Balasubramanian for obstructing the cops from executing a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against his clients..Noting that the advocate repeatedly abused and cursed the Court, Justice PT Asha directed,"Considering the fact that a member of this noble profession has acted in such a fashion which has brought discredit to the profession Mr.C.K.Chandrasekar, learned standing counsel for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry present before this Court is directed to take necessary steps to initiate proceedings against Mr.R.Balasubramanian for the aforesaid acts.".The Court was hearing a suo motu contempt case against the three petitioners. On June 4, the Court had passed an order directing the police to issue NBWs to the alleged contemnors, who were brought to the Court on June 18. In an affidavit submitted on June 20, the police explained that despite complying with the Court’s directions, they couldn’t produce the contemnors on June 18 because Balasubramaniam interfered and prevented the them from carrying out their duty..Balasubramanian had earlier filed a transfer application on behalf of the contemnors in a property dispute. During the hearing, the contemnors admitted before the Court that they were unaware of the application's contents, which were written in English and prepared by the advocate without their understanding. They believed they had filed a property dispute case, not a transfer plea. On this basis, the Court noted,"From examining the contemnors, it is evident that they are not aware about the contents. They have also tendered their unconditional apology. Therefore, since the contents of the affidavit are totally unknown to the Contemnors and in the light of their unconditional apology, they have purged themselves of the Contempt. With the above directions, the Contempt Petition is closed.".The Court took a dim view of the lawyer's conduct, stating,"From the above, it is clear that the contents of the affidavit are also a script prepared by the counsel which makes it all the more shocking to this Court, considering the language that has been used not only against the Judicial Officer of the Labour Court but also against the Judges of this Court."It thus directed the Inspector of Police, Arakkonam to file a complaint against Balasubramanian for preventing the police from doing their duty of producing the contemnors before the Court..Advocate V Chandrasekaran appeared for the High Court.Advocate S Sugendran appeared for the State..[Read Order]
