The Karnataka High Court has handed down a prison sentence to a Bengaluru resident in two separate cases of criminal contempt of court. The court found K Dhananjay guilty of making scandalous allegations against judges and forging a lawyer's signature.
Court's Verdict and Sentence
On December 11, a division bench of the High Court pronounced its judgment. The bench, comprising Justices Anu Sivaraman and Vijayakumar A Patil, sentenced Dhananjay to four months of simple imprisonment. The court also imposed a financial penalty, fining him Rs 2,000 in each of the two cases. Following the order, Dhananjay was taken into custody and sent to prison.
Details of the Two Contempt Cases
The first case was initiated back in 2018 by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). The IIA, which had dismissed Dhananjay from service, accused him of persistently making false, reckless, and unsubstantiated allegations against members of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and judges of the Karnataka High Court. These allegations were made across various legal proceedings and representations.
The second case was a suo motu contempt proceeding registered by the court itself in 2019. This case involved a serious act of impersonation. Dhananjay was accused of forging the signature of a central government advocate, L Harish Kumar, and submitting a statement of objections to the court in January-February 2019. At that time, Advocate Kumar was undergoing treatment for a brain tumour and only appeared in court on March 31, 2019, where he denied having filed any objections earlier. The advocate has since passed away.
Court's Strong Observations on the Conduct
The bench made strong remarks about Dhananjay's behavior during the proceedings. The judges noted that he tried to justify his actions while continuing to make scandalous and unfounded statements against the entire judiciary.
"His conduct can only be termed as deliberate and adamant and reveals complete apathy towards social, moral, and judicial codes of conduct," the bench stated. They expressed a clear opinion that such behavior must be punished to uphold the rule of law. "We are of the clear opinion that if conduct of this nature is not punished, sociopaths like the accused are likely to repeat such offences with impunity, which would endanger the rule of law and the judicial system as a whole," the order added.
Regarding the forgery case, the court concluded that the evidence unequivocally proved Dhananjay forged the advocate's signature and filed the objections. "This conduct clearly amounts to interference with the court's process and meets the definition of criminal contempt. Therefore, we hold him guilty of contempt of court," the order stated.
This ruling underscores the judiciary's low tolerance for actions that undermine its authority and obstruct the course of justice.
