HC holds 2 guilty of contempt of court; slaps Rs 1 lakh on each

The court also directed that the costs recovered be sent to the welfare of the family of prisoners fund of the court registry.

In June 2020, a suo motu contempt case was registered at the HC against one Vijay Arvindbhai Shah and another Alpesh Patel. According to the details, Alpesh had, in June 2020, called the then sitting Gujarat HC judge Justice Bela Trivedi, who is currently a sitting judge in the Supreme Court, posing as then Petlad MLA Niranjan Patel.

Investigation had revealed that Alpesh had reportedly made the call upon Vijay’s request as the latter had moved an anticipatory bail plea for the charges of rioting, unlawful assembly, rash driving and other charges under the Gujarat Epidemic Diseases Regulation, 2020, which was to be heard before the court of Justice Trivedi. According to Patel, Shah had told him that he would be granted anticipatory bail if a call was made and messages were sent in the name of the Petlad MLA.