Sloganeering against judge: Why Kerala High Court closed contempt case against lawyer

The Kerala High Court has discharged advocate Sojan Pavanios from criminal contempt of court proceedings initiated over a 2023 incident when a group of lawyers shouted abusive slogans against a Kottayam magistrate in open court [Suo Motu v Adv Sojan Pavanios & ors]..In its April 10 ruling, a Division Bench of Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S found that there was no evidence to suggest that Advocate Pavanios had committed any contemptuous act. The CCTV footage of the 2023 incident and witness depositions did not show him engaging in any sloganeering or behaviour that would lower the authority of the court. Rather, the Court found merit in Pavanios' explanation that he had only respectfully answered the magistrate's queries on what the lawyers' grievances were. "Having perused the videographs, taking note of the explanation offered by the 1st respondent (Pavanios) in his affidavit and additional affidavit, we are of the view that the words spoken by the 1st respondent to the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate as seen in the Videograph from 00.01.10 minutes to 00.01.20 minutes were not with an intention to scandalise or obstruct the court proceedings, so as to take it as falling under any of the three heads of Criminal Contempt defined under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971," the Court held, before closing the contempt proceedings against him. .By way of background, on November 23, 2023, a group of nearly 200 lawyers barged into the courtroom of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Viveeja Sethumohan and shouted slogans against her over her alleged conduct with lawyers and to protest the registration of a forgery case against a lawyer.The protesting lawyers disrupted proceedings for several minutes, and some individuals were seen recording videos of the courtroom and shouting slogans, which were later widely circulated on social media.The CJM recorded the incident in a detailed order, following which the High Court initiated contempt proceedings against 29 lawyers.28 of those lawyers later tendered unconditional apologies, which the Court accepted conditionally by directing them to offer six months of free legal aid through the District Legal Services Authority.However, the case against Pavanios was considered separately as he did not offer an apology and chose to appear in person to contest the contempt charges..In his defence, Pavanios told the Court that while he was part of the group of lawyers present in the CJM's court on the date of the incident, he did not engage in any contemptuous conduct. He said that he had only conveyed to the CJM what the grievance of the lawyers was in response to her queries. He added that he also tried to pacify advocates who were shouting in the courtroom when the CJM was trying to explain her side of the matter. After reviewing the video footage and Pavanio's explanation, the Court ultimately found that he had merely spoken respectfully to the CJM for about 10 seconds regarding certain concerns raised by junior lawyers and that he neither shouted slogans nor disrupted the proceedings.Thus, the Court observed that while Pavanios was present during the incident, there was nothing to show that he actively participated in any sloganeering or contemptuous conduct. "Having considered the pleadings and materials on record and the submissions made at the Bar, we hold that there is no material to proceed against the 1st respondent under the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and accordingly this Contempt Case (Crl.) stands closed," the Court proceeded to order. .Advocate Sojan Pavanios appeared in person..[Read Judgement]