Contempt of Court-Advocate signing application or pleading which scandalizes the

[bpagrawal]

Contempt of Court-Advocate signing application or pleading which scandalizes the Court

A section of the Bar seems to be labouring under an erroneous impression that when an advocate is acting in the interests of his client or in accordance with his instructions he is discharging his legitimate duty towards him even when he signs an application or a pleading which contains matter scandalizing the Court and that when there is conflict between his obligations to the Court and his duty to the client, the later prevails.
It should be widely made known that an advocate who signs an application or pleading containing matter scandalizing the Court which tends to prevent or delay the course of justice is himself guilty of contempt of Court unless he reasonably satisfies himself about the prima facie existence of adequate grounds there for and that it is no duty of an advocate to his client to take any interest in such applications ; on the other hand, his duty is to advise his client for refraining from making allegations of this nature in such applications.
It is well-settled that in a matter relating to the contempt of Court there cannot be both justification and an apology. The two things are incompatible. An apology is not a weapon of defence to purge the guilty of their offence, nor is it intended to operate as a universal panacea but it is intended to be evidence of real contri- teness.
In border line cases where a question of principle about the rights of an advocate and his duties has to be settled an alternative plea merits consideration, for it is possible for a judge who hears the case to hold that there is no contempt in which case a defence of unqualified apology is meaningless, because that would amount to the admission of the commission of an offence. Every form of defence in a contempt case cannot be regarded as an act of contumacy. It depends on the circumstances of each case and on the general impression about a particular rule of ethics amongst the members of the profession.

Supreme Court of India
M. Y. Shareef And Another vs The Hon'Ble Judges Of The High ... on 15 October, 1954
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