Don’t exploit right to seek justice: Bombay HC

The Bombay high court has dismissed a petition in which the petitioner had made allegations against dignitaries who are occupying top positions in the country like the prime minister, home minister and Maharashtra chief minister, on frivolous grounds.

“Merely because of a person’s right to approach a court of law to seek redressal of their grievances, people cannot indulge in targeting high dignitaries by naming them as contemnors or guilty of any crime,” a division bench of the HC said.

“We deprecate the tendency of the applicants and other litigants to make allegations against high dignitaries, including the prime minister of India, home minister of India, chief minister of Maharashtra, the chief secretary of the state and so on,” the judges said.

The division bench of justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi was hearing a petition filed by Mohini Kamwani (81) and Dilip Kamwani (61), seeking contempt action against the state’s chief minister, home minister, law minister, chief secretary, director general of police and the Navi Mumbai police chief.

The petitioners’ case is that the contemnors failed to lodge a complaint against deputy superintendent of police Laxman Kale and assistant commissioner Raosaheb Sardesai, as directed by the high court in an October 2015 order, for illegally arresting the petitioners in 2012.

In June 2013, the HC directed the government to pay a compensation of '3 lakh each to them and said the petitioners can file a complaint with the magistrate court if they wish to initiate criminal action against the two police officers who arrested them.

According to the Kamwanis, they approached the magistrate court, which directed the police to probe the matter but no FIR was lodged.

The high court on July 21 dismissed the Kamwanis’ petition and held the police has already registered an FIR and a probe was on.