- (1.) THIS matter relates to contempt of Court alleged to have been committed by shri Om Parkash, Sub-Judge First Class, Jagadhri, on 20th of November, 1958, in relation to the Court of Shri Gurdial Singh, Judicial Magistrate, Jagadhri. The complainant in this case is Jawand Singh of village Naharpur in Jagadhri Tehsil. A brief resume of the proceedings before the 20th of November, 1958, the alleged date of the commission of the contempt of Court is necessary for understanding the import oj these proceedings.
(2.) JAWAND Singh P. W. 1 had filed a criminal complaint on 6th of October, 1958, in the Court of S. Gurdial Singh Judicial Magistrate against one Shri Budhwar, executive Engineer, West Jamna Canal, Dadupur, and Shri Raj Kumar Kapur, Sub-Divisional Officer, Dadupur, under Sections 352, 341, 500 and 506, Indian Penal Code. Some time in February, 1958, Jawant Singh was present in the Rest House, jagadhri, when sand was being auctioned He claimed to be one of the bidders out the bid terminated in favour of one Krishan Lal for Sections 250/ -. It was said that some time later in the month of February, 1958, the sand was said to have been sold to one Pran Nath Lamba for Rs. 306/ -. Jawand Singh thought that this transaction was not honest and Messrs. Kapur and Budhwar wanted to favour someone in whom they were interested. Ja-wand Singh is said to have offered to purchase that sand from them for Rs. 400/-but they declined to sell it to him. He then made a written representation to the Punjab Government, irrigation Department, in May, 1958, complaining that the sale of the sand had not been conducted in an honest manner by Messrs. Budhwar and Kapur. As he had not heard anything in answer to his first complaint to the Government, he made another complaint which was addressed to the Chief Minister, Punjab, and on this an inquiry was held by an Inspector of the Anti-Corruption department, While this inquiry was pending, Dhian Singh Chowkidar of the Canal rest House Jagadhri, went to his village on 4th of October, 1948, in the afternoon telling him that he was wanted by Messrs. Budhwar and Kapur. He accompanied the chowkidar, reaching Jamna Nagar at about 4 p. m. They were seen coming in a car which was stopped by Dhian Singh chowkidar and on being told that Jawand Singh had come, they got down and asked Jawand singh that he should withdraw his complaint against them, but Jawand Singh replied that he would not do so as he had made true allegations. Budhwar is said to have threatened Jawand Singh and he also demanded an apology from him. Jawand Singh then stated that Budhwar caught hold of him and raised his fist to strike him but some people intervened. They then left him but said in a threatening manner that unless he withdrew his application he would be running great risk to his life and property, All this took place in a chowk near a fountain in Jamna Nagar.
(3.) JAWAND Singh filed a complaint on 6th of October, 1958, in the Court of S. Gurdial Singh Magistrate. It was mentioned in the complaint that the incident had been witnessed by Brij Lal, Jagat Ram and Krishan Lal Manocha. These three persons have appeared as P. Ws. 2, 5 and 4 respectively in these proceedings. The magistrate had summoned the two accused, and 20th of November, 1958, was a date of hearing in that case. He along with his abovenamed witnesses had gone to the Court of the Magistrate on that date. At about 11-30 a. m. , according to his statement in this Court, Jawand Singh saw the respondent entering the retiring room of the Magistrate From the back side. His suspicions having been aroused, he asked his witnesses to listen to the talk that the respondent was going to have with the Magistrate. P. W. 2 Brij Lal, P. W. 5 jagat Ram and Jawand Singh P. W. 1 put their ears to the window of the retiring room. One Gian Chand P. W. 6 also came there and he too began to listen to the talk.;