Overview
- The Supreme Court set aside the one-week simple imprisonment imposed by the Bombay High Court, limiting its intervention to the sentence after finding the contemnor’s remorse genuine.
- Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also held that the High Court’s reliance on Rajendra Sail and D.C. Saxena was misplaced in assessing punishment.
- The Court underscored that Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act permits remission where a bona fide apology is tendered, even after a finding of guilt.
- The case arose from a housing-society dispute in Navi Mumbai, where a committee member circulated a notice referring to judges as part of a “dog mafia” after the High Court protected a resident’s domestic help who fed stray dogs.
- The Bombay High Court had convicted Vineeta Srinandan, refused to accept her apology, and ordered one week’s imprisonment with a ₹2,000 fine, later staying its order to enable appeal before the Supreme Court stayed it in May.