Mr judicial servant, I order you…: Man flings papers, abuses inside SC courtroom

A complainant was forcibly removed from the Supreme Court after he shouted abuses and threw documents in the courtroom during a hearing of his petition.

In Short

• Petitioner tells court to act, adopts confrontational tone
• Bench questioned whether petitioner was giving order to court
• He threw case papers, shouted abuses before being removed

The Supreme Court on Friday witnessed dramatic scenes when a complainant appearing in person threw documents towards the Bench and shouted abuses during the hearing of his petition challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court. He was immediately escorted out of the courtroom by security personnel.

The incident took place before a bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and Alok Aradhe. The courtroom atmosphere turned tense when the petitioner, Prabal Pratap, adopted an unusually aggressive tone while addressing the judges.

"Mr judicial servant. I order you to order the registration of an FIR against the ACP ... Lucknow," the Pratap said at the outset of his submissions.

Taken aback by the remark, Justice Viswanathan asked, "You are ordering me? You are ordering us?"

Responding to the court, the complainant said, "That is all from my side. Everything is on record."

The confrontation escalated shortly thereafter when the petitioner flung his case papers into the air and allegedly used abusive language against the Chief Justice, according to Live Law. Chief Justice Surya Kant was not part of the bench.

Security personnel immediately intervened and removed him from the courtroom, restoring order. The Bench remained composed throughout the episode and did not react to the outburst.

The incident occurred during the hearing of a petition challenging an order passed by the Allahabad High Court.

NO ACTION AGAINST PETITIONER: SC

The Supreme Court, however, chose not to initiate any action against petitioner-in-person Prabal Pratap despite his conduct during the hearing, and held that there was no reason to interfere with the High Court's order.

Noting the disruption in the proceedings, the court said, "When the matter was taken up, Mr. Prabal Pratap, who appeared as petitioner-in-person on behalf of both the petitioners in this matter, instead of presenting the case, made incoherent and unparliamentary utterances."

The bench, however, took a lenient view, observing, "We have, however, considering the condition of the petitioner above named, do not propose to take any action against him."

On the merits of the case, the court said it had examined the records and found no grounds to interfere with the impugned judgment. "As far as the merit of this case is concerned, we have perused the records, we find no good ground to interfere with the impugned judgment," the bench observed.

- Ends
(With inputs from Srishti Ojha)