Judgment

SHAH J.-Harbans Kaur (appellant herein) filed in the Court of a Magistrate at Calcutta a complaint against Dr. A. N. Mukerji charging him with committing offences under Sections 417, 493, 494, and 376, Indian Penal Code. The case was transferred by order of this Court for trial to the Court of Session at Varanasi.

2. It was the case of the complainant that she developed intimacy with Dr. Mukerji and that she went through a ceremony of marriage by the side of a lake at Calcutta ; that Dr. Mukerji persuaded her to believe that it was a valid marriage "in the presence of the moon and that she had become properly his married wife", that thereafter she lived occasionaly with Dr. Mukerji as his wife and that she was persuaded on diverse occasions to part with property which in the aggregate was of the value of Rs. 7,00,000/-. The complainant said that Dr. Mukerji had taken from her jewellery of considerable value, that later the relations between her and Dr. Mukerji worsened and they drifted apart, and that she realised that she had been deceived into going through the ceremony of marriage and that she was made to part with property of considerable value fraudulently and dishonestly. Dr. Mukerji admitted that he knew the complainant, but he denied the story of the complainant about "the marriage" or of any deception practised upon her or that she had given him property of the value of Rs. 7,00,000/-, or any amount.

3. The learned Sessions Judge acquitted Dr. Mukerji of all the charges except the charge under Section 417, I. P. Code. For the offence under Section 417, Dr. Mukerji was convicted and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 75,000/-. Dr. Mukerji appealed to the High Court of Allahabad against the order of conviction and sentence. The trial before the High Court of Allahabad lasted several days. Mr. P. C. Chaturvedi an Advocate of the High Court argued the case on behalf of Dr. Mukerji at considerable length. It is the case of the complainant that : (1) in the course of his argument Mr. Chaturvedi used "filthy and abusive language" not befitting a lawyer, and that he made abusive references to the complainant and the Judges did not give her any protection ; (2) that Mr. Chaturvedi made obscene gestures in Court ; (3) that he said that the complainant had many men friends and was used to indiscriminate sexual intercourse with several persons and one of such persons was Dr. Mukerji ; (4) that in the course of his arguments Mr. Chaturvedi recited some Sanskrit verses depicting the debased character of women in general ; (5) that he suggested that the complainant was a "corrupter of society" ; and (6) that he made gestures and vulgar jokes when he was addressing the Court and all those who were present in Court roared with laughter and even the Judges joined in that laughter.

4. On these allegations the complainant requested the presiding Judges to take proceedings in contempt against Mr. P. C. Chaturvedi. The learned Judges of the High Court considered the application and apparently asked Mr. Chaturvedi who was present in Court if he intended to say anything in the matter. They then proceeded to reject the application. The learned Judges observed that a part of the argument for Dr. Mukerji was addressed by Mr. S. S. Tiwari who took up the argument m the absence of Mr. P. C. Chaturvedi for some time and that Mr. Tiwari insisted that there was a finding of the Court below that the complainant was a concubine of Dr. Mukerji, and he (Mr. Tiwari) had a right to use the word "kept" in connection with the complainant. At that stage the Court interrupted and asked Mr. Tiwari not to use language which might be derogatory to the dignity of the Court. They further stated that Mr. Chaturvedi had recited some Sanskrit verses disparaging women, but the Judges had pointed out to him that there were other verses which extolled women. The Judges then proceeded to observe :

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