Bengaluru: Taking a serious view of repeated misconduct, Karnataka high court convicted Pankaj Kaushik, a 51-year-old advocate from Karwar, for contempt of court.A division bench, comprising Justices Anu Sivaraman and Venkatesh Naik T, sentenced him to one-day simple imprisonment along with a Rs 2,000 fine, payable in 15 days. If the contemnor fails to pay, he will have to undergo simple imprisonment for one more day, the bench added in its Sept 11 order.The action against the advocate was initiated following a letter from Uttara Kannada principal district and sessions judge, dated April 12, 2022, along with a letter, dated April 8, 2022, written by Shrinivas Patil, additional civil judge and JMFC-II, Uttara Kannada district.Kaushik was appearing as a party-in-person (arguing his own case) in a domestic violence case filed by his wife. His case was not listed on April 8, 2022, but he appeared before the court and started shouting and yelling at the presiding officer, alleging that the latter had not given a date for his case. He also yelled at the bench clerk for not calling out his case. Though the presiding officer warned him over his misconduct, the advocate continued shouting. He alleged that the presiding officer had received money from his wife and had passed the orders in her favour.The incident was brought to the notice of the principal district and sessions judge. It was alleged that the advocate had also made defamatory statements against the high court judges.The high court registered a criminal contempt case against Kaushik and a trial was held. Though an opportunity was afforded to him, he did not express any regret and continued his adamant stand.
