Taking a firm stance in a serious case of interference in the judicial process, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered registration of a criminal contempt case against Vijay Raghavgarh BJP MLA Sanjay Pathak. A division bench of MPHC comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf on Thursday, hearing the case, took suo motu cognizance and passed the order. The case relates to a petition filed by Katni-based social activist Ashutosh Dixit, in which the MLA and other officials were named as respondents. The matter arose during the hearing of a petition related to mining, when it was alleged that MLA Sanjay Pathak called the judge and expressed his desire to discuss the case.

 

Considering this as interference in the judicial process, the judge recused himself from hearing the case, recorded the entire incident in the order sheet and forwarded the matter to the Chief Justice. Subsequently, the petitioner filed complaints with various constitutional authorities and police officials, calling the incident contempt of court. However, after a prolonged period of inaction, he approached the High Court. During the hearing, the High Court clarified that it would now act as the complainant in the matter and that a case of criminal contempt will be filed against Sanjay Pathak. The court also stated that the petition ceased to be necessary after this order and dismissed it. The court also rejected the Government advocate’s request to ban media reporting, imposing a ban only on live proceedings, but did not impose any restrictions on news broadcasts.