Karnataka High Court convicts advocate for misbehaviour inside courtroom in drunken state

The High Court of Karnataka has convicted a 55-year-old advocate for criminal contempt for repeatedly disrupting court proceedings, shouting at a civil judge in Karwar while appearing in the courtroom in an inebriated condition, and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for a day, till the rise of the court, while imposing a fine of ₹2,000.

A Division Bench of Justices Anu Sivaraman and Venkatesh Naik T found Pankaj Kaushik, a Karwar-based advocate, guilty under Section 12(1) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

The High Court in 2022 had suo motu initiated a contempt proceedings against him based on the two letters by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Karwar, in Uttara Kannada district, along with the communications received from the judge of the Additional Civil Judge and JMFC-II, Karwar, before whom the advocate had misbehaved on two occasions.