NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Monday stayed contempt of court proceedings initiated by Calcutta high court against seven police personnel, including three IPS officers, former Howrah police commissioner Vishal Garg, former DCP (south) Howrah V S R Anantanag and former Addl DCP Howrah Bhavna Gupta, in relation to a violent incident in Howrah district court in 2019.Senior advocates C U Singh and Biswajit Deb, appearing for the seven cops and West Bengal govt who have appealed against the May 2 order of an HC, told an SC bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan that HC could not have initiated contempt proceedings six years after the incident, in which many advocates were injured.They said HC had taken suo motu cognisance of the violent incident of April 24, 2019, in which police have registered 11 FIRs against ‘unknown advocates’ and had appointed a one-man judicial inquiry, which has already given its report in December 2019. HC did not initiate contempt proceedings in 2019 and hence, to initiate the same in 2025 would be barred by limitation, they argued.Appearing for the advocates and bar associations, senior advocates Maninder Singh and Sidharth Luthra drew the SC bench’s attention to HC’s clear findings on how the limitation clause in the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, did not apply to the present case. It had said the time limitation bar applied to a person seeking to initiate contempt against others and not on the court, which itself had initiated suo motu proceedings.Justice Manmohan said even in a contempt case relating to demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992, SC discharged all cops who were hauled up for contempt as the charges against them were not framed even after a lapse of one year.“This matter – whether HC could have initiated contempt proceedings after a lapse of five years – requires consideration,” the bench said and stayed the proceedings arising from the May 2 order of the high court. However, the suo motu proceedings in the 2019 writ petition would not be affected by this stay order.
