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A day after Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court judge Honey M Varghese made personal remarks against senior advocate TB Mini in open court, the advocate on January 13 moved the Kerala High Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings and disciplinary action against the judge. Mini had assisted the Special Public Prosecutor in the actor assault case. She also represented the survivor in certain cases filed in the High Court, including that of illegal access of the memory card containing visuals of the sexual assault.
The judge remarked on January 12, in open court, while hearing defamation suits related to the case that Mini had attended court for fewer than 10 days during the trial, stayed only briefly on those days and treated the courtroom as a place of rest by sleeping during proceedings. These comments were immediately reported by the media, and Mini alleged this caused serious damage to her professional standing.
In an unusual submission placed before Chief Justice Soumen Sen, Mini contended that if a lawyer is defamed by a judge in open court with false, defamatory, and contemptuous allegations, then the court must proceed against the judge.
Mini also alleged in her petition that Judge Honey Varghese made derogatory comments about the survivor and about prosecution witnesses on many occasions. The petition further refers to strained proceedings during the trial, including the resignation of two special public prosecutors who accused the court of being biased against them. The trial eventually concluded with the conviction of the prime accused Pulsar Suni and five others who kidnapped the actor and sexually assaulted her. The eighth accused, actor Dileep, was acquitted. Mini also said in her petition that the third Special Public Prosecutor Aja Kumar told the court that efforts by over 18 lawyers appearing for Dileep to drive him out of the case would not succeed, as he was committed to completing the trial.
Mini also alleged that despite proper representation through her junior, the sessions court falsely recorded in the order sheet that the counsel were absent, and that the same was reflected on the e-courts portal.
She asserted that the remarks amounted not only to an insult to her personally but to a humiliation of the entire advocate community. “A lawyer and a judge are two wheels of the chariot of justice. If a lawyer is defamed in open court with false, defamatory and contemptuous allegations, the learned Judge is liable to be proceeded against by this Hon’ble Court. Hence I most humbly pray for suitable legal actions may be initiated against Smt Honey M Varghese and justice may be rendered to me,” she said.