‘Due Process Of Law Is Blinkered’: Orissa High Court Issues Contempt Notices For Forging Medical Certificate To Obtain Interim Bail

The Orissa High Court has recently issued contempt notices to two persons who were allegedly involved in procuring and producing a forged medical certificate before the High Court for grant of interim bail to an accused person. While expressing severe dismay over the conduct of the said persons, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo observed, “Due process of law is blinkered by acts or conduct of the parties to the litigation or witnesses or generate tendency to impede or undermine the free flow of the unsullied stream of justice by blatantly resorting, with impunity, to fabricate Court proceedings to thwart fair adjudication of dispute and its resultant end.” Factual Background A person named Tapan Kumar Sahoo swore an affidavit stating that the petitioner’s wife is suffering from multiple ailments and is undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. While expressing disappointment over the prevailing situation, he said, “It has become increasingly a tendency on the part of the parties either to produce fabricated evidence as a part of the pleadings or record or to fabricate the Court record itself for retarding or obstructing the course of justice or judicial proceedings to gain unfair advantage in the judicial process. This tendency to obstruct the due course of justice or tendency to undermine the dignity of the Court needs to be severely dealt with to deter the persons having similar proclivity to resort to such acts or conduct.” Lastly, the Court said that in a given case even if mens rea is not clear or is obscure, still if the act or conduct tends to undermine the dignity of the Court or prejudices the party or hinders the due course of judicial proceedings or administration of justice, it would amount to contempt of the Court.