I.D. Dua, C.J., S.K. Kapur and S.N. Andley, JJ.
(1) The contemner Shri H.L.Sebgal has stated before us that he confines his defense to paragraph 1 of the reply dated 27th May, 1968 and that he is sorry to have added the remaining paragraph Nos 2 and 3 in that reply. We are satisfied that the contemner did nto intend to commit contempt of Court and perhaps in him enthusiasm, he was misled into ventilating his grievances in this reply.
(2) Action by way of contempt of Court is a serious matter. In this action, the Court is btoh the accuser and the Judge of the accusation. The position is the same whether the alleged contempt is of a subordinate Court or of this Court. It thus behoves the Court to act with due circumspection, making appropriate allowances for common human failings within reasonable limits. Whereas the Court must always be jealous in vindicating its dignity and impartiality, at the same time, the Court must exercise its power with restraint and care, always distinguishing cases where there is a deliberate and conscious contempt of Court which is unexplainable, from cases where a person has innocently been induced by certain circumstances or factors to say something improper, which may perhaps be on the border line of the law. The major offending paragraph? in the review application in the Court of the Subordinate Judge have, in the present case, already been deleted by the contemner from the portion of the pleadings which were reported to this Court by the learned Subordinate Judge. They were in fact deleted as early as 1st March, 1968. Now a litigant may have a grievance in a matter decided by the Courts, but that cannto justify use of intemperate or improper language by the aggrieved party in reference to Courts.
(3) As we are satisfied that it was either under some misguided zeal or under the influence of some toher uncontrolled impulse which induced the contemner to make the objectionable observations, and finding that the same were deleted at the earliest opportunity, we discharge the rule and make no order as to costs. We however, do warn the contemner that in future he should be more careful.