Supreme Court Stays Calcutta HC's Suo Motu Contempt Proceedings Against Police Officers Over 2019 Howrah Court Violence

The Supreme Court today (June 16) stayed the order of the Calcutta High Court which initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against against police officials allegedly involved in the 2019 Howrah District Court assault against lawyers

The bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Manmohan was hearing the petitions filed by the officials against the High Court's order. The bench agreed to consider the matter and issued notice in the plea. 

Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh, for the petitioners, submitted that the main issue before the bench is whether the High Court could, after a delay of 5 years, take initiate suo-motu contempt action under S.15 of the Contempt of Courts Act 1971. 

Notably, the state of West Bengal also challenged the impugned order in a connected SLP. 

The bench passed the following order : 

"Issue notice, returnable in 6 weeks,  in the meanwhile further proceedings pursuant to the order dated May 2, 2025 shall remain stayed."

The contempt notice was issued by the High Court on May 2. The counsel stressed that this was in violation of the Supreme Court decision in 2016 in Maheshwar Peri v. High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. 

In Maheshwar Peri, the Court held that the one-year limitation period as provided in Section 20 of the Contempt of Courts Act also applies for Suo motu initiation of contempt proceedings by the Supreme Court or the High Court.

Gupta said that in the present case, the High Court took a suo motu cognisance in April 2019 of the untoward incidents which occurred in the premises of the Howrah District Sadar Court complex on 24th April, 2019, when police personnel allegedly entered into court premises and assaulted lawyers.

Later, the High Court in May 2019 appointed former HC judge Justice K J Sengupta as one-man commission to enquire into incident.

The counsel submitted that the  High Court now took up the matter again after 5 years, based on the report of the commission and in the order observed that the earlier proceedings were taken under Article 226 as writ petition. 

The matter will now be heard after 6 weeks 

What Has  The High Court Said On The Issue Of Limitation Under The Contempt Of Courts Act ? 

The High Court observed that the bar of 1 year under S.20 of the Act 1971 would not apply in the present case as here the Court is initiating a suo motu proceeding. The said bar is applicable only where proceedings are initiated after an individual flags the issue of contempt before the Court. 

The relevant part reads : 

"The bar of limitation as in section 20 of 1971 Act according to us is in respect of proceedings initiated by individual bringing to the notice of the Court about an act of contempt. The whole object of such limitation is to keep a person who alleges contempt to be diligent and approach the Court without undue delay. Even though the limitation as prescribed in section 20 is contained in a special statute but the powers under Article 215 where the Court had initiated suo moto writ petition taking note of an untoward incident cannot be abrogated or stultified particularly in view of the inherent power available to the Court under Article 215." 

Case Details : VISHAL GARG AND ORS. Versus REGISTRAR GENERAL AND ORS.| SLP(C) No. 16422/2025 and connected matter