Delhi News:  Delhi HC has recently initiated criminal proceedings of contempt of court against a person. The Delhi High Court initiated this action when the court-appointed local commissioner went for inspection in a case, then this person allegedly showed a pistol to threaten the local commissioner.

Justice Subramaniam Prasad said that according to the report of the court-appointed local commissioner Nandini Bali, a person named Nitin Bansal, who is the son of the respondent in the case, took out a pistol and placed it on the table in front of the local commissioner with the intention of threatening and forcing him.

What did the High Court say in its order?

The court believes that such conduct is a prima facie case of interference in the judicial process. It is tantamount to criminal contempt of court. The High Court has said in its order of October 28 that "In view of the report of the local commissioner and the statement of the ASI of Bhupani police station, who said that when he entered the office room, the pistol (air gun) was present on the table.

The court is of the view that prima facie, it is a case of interference in the judicial process which amounts to criminal contempt. Nitin Bansal has obstructed an officer of the court, who had gone to carry out his duties assigned by the court.

Petitioner Bina filed a petition in HC 

Let us tell you that petitioner Bina had filed a petition in the HC seeking an interim order against a person named Ashok Bansal to prevent him from disposing of 30,000 tonnes of industrial coal material, which was allegedly acquired by the petitioner's husband through his farm.

On May 31, 2024, the court issued an order restraining Ashok Bansal from handling or dealing in coal while the case was adjourned further.

Subsequently, the petitioner had alleged that Ashok Bansal was violating the court's order of May 31, following which the court had appointed advocate Nandini Bali as the local commissioner to inspect whether the alleged violations had taken place or not.

The report said- Ashok Bansal violated the court's order of May 31

On September 17, Bali filed an inspection report stating that Ashok Bansal had violated the court's order of May 31 and committed contempt of court. The court said that according to the report, during the inspection, Nitin Bansal became aggressive and took out a weapon (pistol/gun) and placed it on the office table to allegedly threaten Bali. After which the court directed Nitin Bansal to appear before the court on the next hearing date. He was also directed to file an affidavit explaining how he could take out the gun when the proceedings were going on as per the court's order.

After this, Bansal filed an affidavit and claimed that the gun in question was actually a non-lethal air gun (toy gun) meant to scare away animals like monkeys and stray dogs in the premises as the factory is located in a remote area. The affidavit further states that the air gun was lying on the table even before the local commissioner arrived.

However, the court did not accept what Bansal had said in his affidavit and said that keeping weapons on the table was enough to intimidate any person.

The court refused to accept

The court refused to accept that the pistol in question was merely a toy gun meant to scare animals and questioned how a pellet-less toy gun could scare animals and monkeys.

After this, the court directed the Registrar General to send the matter to the Chief Justice of the High Court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Nitin Bansal.