CHENNAI: Punishment for contempt of court will normally be imposition of costs/fine or imprisonment or both. But, here comes a ‘noble’ punishment.
An accused in a case, who was found guilty of contempt, has been punished by Justice S Vaidyanathan of Madras High Court to buy and distribute ‘Thirukkural’ books to 50 students.
According to Thiruvalangadu police in Tiruvallur district, D Muthu aka Nelson Muthu had assaulted another person, who died two months later after prolonged treatment in a hospital.
The charge against him was that he filed a second anticipatory bail application and obtained bail by suppressing the fact of his having filed the first petition, which had been pending before the court.
He withdrew the first petition after getting bail through the second application. Hence, the present petition from Ekambaram, complainant, to punish him for contempt. He had played a fraud on the court, petitioner alleged.
Justice Vaidyanathan found that the allegation against Muthu was true and that he had committed contempt of court. Hence, he has to be punished to pay costs of `2,500/-, failing which, he should have been directed to undergo simple imprisonment for two days, he said.
Though the court could have remanded him to prison and that if no punishment is imposed, it would give a wrong signal to the public that any person can take the court for a ride.
To give him an opportunity to correct himself, to admonish him, the court, instead of directing the accused to pay costs, was directing Muthu to buy and distribute Thirukkural books with short meanings in Tamil to 50 students of two schools in his area within a month, the judge said.