MUMBAI, April 15: The Bombay High Court has slapped a contempt notice on a complainant for making "scandalous remarks" against a metropolitan magistrate in his petition. The petition was subsequently dismissed on Wednesday.Premkumar Mittal had moved the high court after a magistrate at the 40th Court, Girgaum compared him to a murderer for issuing a cheque which later bounced. "Persons whose cheques dishonour are worse than murderers. One family suffers due to one murder. But the entire society suffers due to dishonoured cheques" were the judge's words as quoted in Mittal's petition.The petitioner objected to the unduly harsh words used by the magistrate. However, Justice S S Nijjar of the BHC did not entertain Mittal's petition and observed that the petition illustrated a "dangerous trend emerging among litigants who make scandalous allegations against presiding officers of the lower courts." While dismissing the petition, Justice Nijjar said that high court has been entrusted with the responsibilityof protecting the lower judiciary from such scurrilous attacks.The judge also observed that except for the petition, there was no evidence to show that the magistrate passed such remark in the court. Therefore, he added, it was possible that the allegations are made in order to prejudice the mind of the high court and persuade it to transfer the criminal case from the Girgaum magistrate to some other court, the judge ruled. Justice Nijjar said Mittal had prima facie indulged in malafide practices like issuing cheques and then denying it. Moreover, when the cheques bounced, he even disowned the bank account from where the cheques emanated. But while making these statements, the judge clarified that his observations pertained only to Mittal's behaviour in his court and not on the merits of the case registered under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
