The Punjab and Haryana High Court has closed contempt of court proceedings initiated suo motu in 2019 against 274 followers of self-styled godman Sant Rampal.
The Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma discharged the contemnors after accepting their unconditional apology.
A letter in the form of a booklet titled ‘Black Spot on Judiciary, Judge D.R. Chalia’ had been sent to a High Court judge in 2019, signed by 285 persons, the alleged contemnors in the case.
The booklet criticised Additional Sessions Judge DR Chalia for sentencing Rampal and others to life imprisonment in murder cases relating to the death of four women and a child during clashes that took place between his followers and police who had come to arrest him.
On receiving the booklet, Justice AB Chaudhari (who has retired since), recommended contempt of court action against the 285 signatories of the booklet.
Out of these, 11 contemnors passed away during the pendency of the contempt proceedings.
Advocates associated with the case said that this was possibly the largest number of persons ever charged for criminal contempt in a single matter.
Senior Advocate Vinod Ghai, along with Advocates Arjun Sheoran, Arnav Ghai, Rohan Gupta and Kashish Sahni, represented the contemnors.
Advocate Anju Arora served as amicus curiae in the case and appeared along with Advocate Alisha Arora.
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