Judgment :

B. SUDERSHAN REDDY, J.

1. This appeal preferred under Section 19(1) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 is directed against the judgment dated 31st March, 2005 of the High Court of Calcutta in C.P.A.N. No. 1535 of 2003 whereby the appellant has been held to have committed criminal contempt as defined in Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three days and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-.

2. The origin of the proceedings is traceable to an incident that had taken place on 24th September, 2003 when some of the Judges of the Calcutta High Court while on their way to the High Court were `detained' by a police officer so as to allow a procession of adivasis to pass by who were out to press their demand for recognition of Shanthali as one of the Scheduled language under the Constitution of India. Justice Amitava Lala of that Court felt the procession caused enormous disruption not only to the "official business of the Court" but also "the people at large". The learned Judge issued suo-motu rule of contempt upon Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and other police officers. As is evident from the order date