The Bombay High Court last week accepted the apology of a woman who had sent WhatsApp messages to the judge hearing her appeal related to the custody of her daughter, and asked her not to repeat her action.
Justice M M Sathaye accepted the explanation offered by the woman and discharged the show-cause notice issued to her and noted, “The Appellant is directed not to indulge in such attempt/activity to reach out directly to any Judge, in future.”
The woman moved the Bombay High Court challenging the district court’s order that granted temporary custody of their six-year-old daughter to her husband. The district court allowed visitation rights to the woman and also permitted her to video calls with the child.
On November 30, a day after Justice Sathaye refused to stay the district court order, he received a WhatsApp message on his mobile phone number from an unknown sender, which he blocked. Justice Sathaye received another message along with videos indicating that the sender of the message was present in the court when he passed the order on November 29.
On December 17, when asked by the court the woman admitted that she had sent those messages to the judge. Considering the nature of the impugned district court order, the relationship between the parties, and the issue of the child’s custody involved, Justice Sathaye noted, “This may be a case of desperate attempt by a mother. However, it is done in a completely inappropriate way.”
The bench noted, “In prima facie view, clearly an attempt was made by the appellant-mother to over-reach the law to interfere with the administration of Justice and to try to influence the mind of the Judge and this conduct is bordering on the contempt of the Court. This cannot be taken lightly.”
The judge issued a show-cause notice to the appellant and also directed her to explain her conduct. Advocate Sunil S Gosavi, who was representing the woman, submitted that her actions were “condemnable”, and said he did not want to continue as her advocate.
Later, the woman filed an affidavit through Advocate Altaf Khan tendering an unconditional apology and stated she felt helpless and made an attempt to directly reach out to the court out of desperation for her child.
After perusing her apology during the next hearing on December 19, the judge out of anxiety and desperation, the High Court accepted the apology, and cautioned her to not indulge in such attempts.
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