Gunjan Kumar & Anr. v. Vedant

Delhi HC5 Dec 2025CONT.CAS.(CRL)/18/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Criminal contempt; Delhi High Court Division Bench; Vedant (contemnor) v. Gunjan Kumar & Anr.; unconditional apology by affidavit accepted; reckless allegations of corruption in judiciary; scandalising/contumacious assertions; Contempt of Court Act, 1971 S.2(b), S.2(c), S.11, S.12; show-cause notice; lesser experience at the Bar; caution note; undertaking; revival clause; proceedings closed.

What did the court decide?

Unconditional apology of the contemnor accepted; criminal contempt proceedings closed with a caution to the contemnor; petitioner left at liberty to seek revival of the proceedings upon any future infraction of a similar nature. ¶¶36

Gunjan Kumar & Anr. Vs Vedant — Contempt of Court | Delhi HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

¶¶36

Issue for consideration

Whether the unconditional apology tendered by way of affidavit by the contemnor/respondent Vedant for his contemptuous assertions against the judiciary ought to be accepted, and how the criminal contempt proceedings should accordingly be disposed of.

¶¶30

Ratio / Principle

Taking into consideration that the unconditional apology was tendered by the contemnor at the very threshold and his relatively lesser experience at the Bar, the Bench accepts his unconditional apology.

¶¶30

Key takeaways

The acceptance of the apology is given with a caution note that the contemnor would be extremely vigilant and careful in future in his submissions before the Court and also in his pleadings.ratio¶¶35
The Bench clarifies that in case the contemnor contravenes his undertaking and indulges in any infraction of a similar nature, the petitioner would be at liberty to seek revival of the present proceedings.ratio¶¶35
Resultantly, the present proceedings are closed.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

CONT.CAS.(CRL) 18/2025 (& CM APPL. 4486/2024), High Court of Delhi, Division Bench (Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain, JJ.), order dated 05.12.2025: Criminal contempt proceedings concerning respondent Vedant, who, during proceedings originating in a civil contempt petition (Ss. 2(b), 11 and 12, Contempt of Court Act, 1971) over alleged wilful disobedience of an order dated 17.01.2023, made reckless allegations of corruption in the judiciary. After a show-cause notice and a reply containing further reckless allegations, the learned Single Judge formed a prima facie opinion of criminal contempt under S.2(c) and the matter was placed before the Division Bench. Before the Bench, the contemnor tendered an affidavit of unconditional apology expressing absolute faith in the judiciary; the Bench, weighing the apology tendered at the very threshold and his relatively lesser experience at the Bar, accepted it with a caution to remain extremely vigilant in future submissions and pleadings, clarified that the petitioner may seek revival of the proceedings upon any similar future infraction, and closed the proceedings.

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$~2

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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- CONT.CAS.(CRL) 18/2025 & CM APPL. 4486/2024

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GUNJAN KUMAR & ANR. .....Petitioners

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Through: Mr. Sumitra Choudhary with

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Mr. M.K. Raghav Raman, Ms. Jasmine Sheikh and Ms. Nitya Sharma, Advocates.

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versus

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VEDANT .....Respondent Through: Respondent in person.

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CORAM:

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HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIVEK CHAUDHARY HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ JAIN

¶11

O R D E R

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% 05.12.2025 1. Initially, a ‘civil contempt’ petition under Section 2(b) read with Section 11 and 12 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 was filed against the respondent herein for deliberate and wilful disobedience of order dated 17.01.2023.

¶13

During pendency of the above said civil contempt, contemnor i.e. respondent Sh. Vedant appeared before the learned Single Judge of this Court on 20.12.2023 and tendered unconditional apology for making allegations against the judicial officers and stated that he would never do so in future.

¶14

During further proceedings of said civil contempt matter, the petitioner, however, made reference to the averments appearing in ‘contempt petition filed by the respondent’ and finding those allegations to be contemptuous in nature, a show-cause notice was issued to respondent.

¶15

CONT.CAS.(CRL) 18/2025

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¶17

This is a digitally signed order.

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The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/12/2025 at 11:38:12

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Such notice was replied to by the contemnor.

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However, the contemnor did not deter and, again, made reckless allegations claiming that there was corruption in judiciary.

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Since the assertions made in such reply were found to be contemptuous, contumacious and scandalous in nature, learned Single Judge came to prima facie , opinion that respondent had committed criminal contempt as defined in Section 2(c) of Contempt of Court Act, 1971.

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This is how the present petition has been placed before us.

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Mr. Vedant, the contemnor, is present in Court.

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He, at the very outset, seeks permission to tender his apology by way of affidavit.

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Such affidavit is directed to be taken on record.

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The aforesaid affidavit contains his unconditional apology with regard to the assertions he had made against the judiciary.

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Mr. Vedant submits that he has absolute faith and trust in the judiciary and expresses his deep regret for the utterances in question. He also undertakes and assures that, in future, he would be very watchful in conducting himself before any Court and would never commit any act which undermines dignity and majesty of the Court.

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Learned counsel for the petitioner leaves it to this Court to pass appropriate orders in view of the unconditional apology.

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Contemnor seems remorseful.

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Taking into consideration the fact that unconditional apology has been tendered by the contemnor at the very threshold and his, relatively, lesser experience at the Bar, we, hereby, accept his unconditional apology, albeit

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CONT.CAS.(CRL) 18/2025

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¶33

This is a digitally signed order.

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The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/12/2025 at 11:38:12

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with a caution note that he would be extremely vigilant and careful in future in his submissions before the Court and also in his pleadings. We also clarify that in case he contravenes his abovesaid undertaking and indulges in any infraction of similar nature, the petitioner herein would be at liberty to seek revival of the present proceedings.

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Resultantly, the present proceedings are, hereby, closed.

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VIVEK CHAUDHARY, J

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MANOJ JAIN, J

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DECEMBER 5, 2025/st/pb

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CONT.CAS.(CRL) 18/2025

¶41

¶42

This is a digitally signed order.

¶43

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/12/2025 at 11:38:12

¶44

This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/12/2025 at 11:38:12

Procedural history

How this case reached the court

AI extract

Prior proceeding
A civil contempt petition under Section 2(b) read with Sections 11 and 12 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 was filed against respondent Vedant for deliberate and wilful disobedience of an order dated 17.01.2023.¶¶12
Prior proceeding
On 20.12.2023, the contemnor/respondent Sh. Vedant appeared before the learned Single Judge of this Court and tendered unconditional apology for making allegations against the judicial officers, stating he would never do so in future.¶¶13
Prior proceeding
During the civil contempt proceedings the petitioner made reference to averments in the contempt petition filed by the respondent himself; finding those allegations contemptuous, a show-cause notice was issued to the respondent.¶¶14
Prior proceeding
The show-cause notice was replied to by the contemnor.¶¶19
Prior proceeding
In his reply the contemnor did not deter and again made reckless allegations claiming that there was corruption in judiciary.¶¶20
Prior proceeding
Finding the assertions in the reply contemptuous, contumacious and scandalous, the learned Single Judge formed a prima facie opinion that the respondent had committed criminal contempt as defined in Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971.¶¶21
Prior proceeding
On that basis the present petition was placed before the Division Bench.¶¶22
Prior proceeding
Before the Division Bench, the contemnor sought permission at the very outset to tender his apology by way of affidavit; the affidavit containing his unconditional apology was directed to be taken on record.¶¶24
Prior proceeding
The contemnor stated he has absolute faith and trust in the judiciary, expressed deep regret for the utterances, and undertook to be very watchful before any Court and never commit any act undermining the dignity and majesty of the Court.¶¶27
Prior proceeding
Learned counsel for the petitioner left it to the Court to pass appropriate orders in view of the unconditional apology; the Court observed that the contemnor seemed remorseful.¶¶28

Gunjan Kumar & Anr. v. Vedant

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Gunjan Kumar & Anr. v. Vedant

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Why is it important?

What the court decided

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

Procedural history

Parties & counsel

Coram

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