01. This contempt petition under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with Section Article 215 of the Constitution of India is filed by the petitioner-victim for wilful and deliberate contempt of the order/direction given by this Court vide judgment and order dated 26.09.2025 passed in connection with B.A. 69 of 2025 by the respondent-contemnors.

02. Heard Learned Senior Counsel, Mr. P. Roy Barman assisted by Learned Counsel, Mr. S. Bhattacharjee appearing on behalf of the petitioner and also heard Learned Senior Counsel, Mr. D. Bhattacharya assisted by Learned Counsel, Mr. A. Chakrabarti appearing on behalf of the respondent-contemnors.

03. Taking part in the hearing, Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner drawn the attention of the Court that initially Learned Additional Sessions Judge, Belonia, South Tripura by an order dated 25.07.2025 granted bail to the respondent-contemnors and challenging that order the victim preferred one application for cancellation of bail to the present respondent-contemnors and accordingly, this Court by order dated 26.09.2025 in B.A. No.69 of 2025 cancelled the order of bail granted by the Learned Trial Court vide order dated 25.07.2025 and directed the respondent-contemnors to surrender before the Court of Learned CJM, South Tripura, Belonia on or before 07.10.2025 as that time Puja Vacation was going on. But according, to Learned Senior Counsel inspite of specific order of the Court, the respondent-contemnors did not surrender before Learned CJM, South Tripura District, Belonia nor surrendered before the Learned Trial Court rather they have surrendered on 27.10.2025 in clear violation of the order of this Court. In this regard, the petitioner submitted one notice to the Authority of the Police Department (Annexure-2) for taking lawful action, but no action was taken and after that the petitioner has filed this petition before this Court for drawing up of contempt proceeding against the respondent-contemnors. The respondent-contemnors in obedience to the contempt notice appeared and filed one objection denying the assertions of the petition in the contempt petition. In para Nos.1 & 2 of the counter-affidavit, it was asserted on behalf of the contemnor which is as follows:

               “1. That, the instant application for content of courts order is not maintainable. It is submitted that under B.A. 69 of 2025, this Hon’ble High Court had set-aside the order of granting bail passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, against the answering respondents on 25.07.2025, which is the last working day of the court ahead of long puja vacation. The very order is not available with the answering respondents. Inspite of that on the very next date, the answering respondent went to the learned court for surrender. The answering respondent found the court being closed for vacation, returned back to their respective residence. On the very reopening day of the puja vacation i.e. 04.11.2025, all the respondents went to the court for surrender. The concerned court i.e. Additional Sessions Judge, Belonia, South Tripura, informed them that the surrender be made before the learned CJM, Belonia, South Tripura. Accordingly, all the respondents surrendered before the learned CJM, Belonia, South Tripura, on 04.11.2025 itself. The respondents thereafter prayed to the learned Additonal Sessions Judge, South Tripura, Belonia, wherein they have been remanded to the jail custody. The respondents still are in custody since their surrender on 04.11.2025.

               2. That, there is no violation or contemptuous action by the answering respondents, as alleged.”

               Thereafter, another additional counter-affidavit was filed, wherein in para Nos.1 & 2 it was submitted as under:

               “1. That, in compliance with the judgment and order passed by this Hon’ble High Court in BA No.69 of 2025, the Answering Respondents proceeded to surrender before the competent court on the very next day after the pronouncement of the judgment. However, upon reaching the court premises, they found that the court was closed on account of vacation and consequently returned to their respective residences. Thereafter, on the first working day following the vacation, i.e., on 27.10.2025, the Answering Respondents surrendered before the Ld. Additional Sessions Judge, South Tripura, and have remained in judicial custody since that date. A copy of the order recording the surrender of the Answering Respondents before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, South Tripura, is annexed hereto and marked as ANNEXURE 1.

               2. That, due to an inadvertent and bona fide error, the Answering Respondents had earlier stated that they surrendered on 04.11.2025. The said statement was made under a mistaken impression and without any intention to mislead this Hon’ble Court. The correct date of surrender is 27.10.2025, as would be evident from the records of the Ld. Additional Sessions Judge, South Tripura.”

               However, at the time of hearing, Learned Senior Counsel, Mr. D. Bhattacharya appearing for the respondent-contemnors submitted that although the order of this Court was passed on 26.09.2025 but that was not uploaded in the website and on the following day it was the Puja Vacation, so, the respondent-contemnors could not collect the copy and they went the Court and found the Court closed and after that on the reopening day, i.e. on 27.10.2025 they have surrendered before the Court. As such there was no wilful violation/disobedience of the order of this Court and furthermore, the respondent-contemnors never flouted the order of this Court and finally, Learned Senior Counsel urged for dismissal/rejection of this contempt proceeding.

03. Heard both the sides and perused the petition along with the documents submitted as well as the counter-affidavit filed by the respondent-contemnors.

04. It is the admitted position that by order dated 26.09.2025 in B.A. No.69 of 2025 this Court cancelled the order dated 25.07.2025 passed by the Learned Trial Court and also cancelled the bail bond of the respondent-contemnors and directed the said contemnors to surrender before the Learned Trial Court on or before 07.10.2025. For the sake of convenience, the operative portion of the said order in para No.18 is mentioned herein below:

               “18. So, after detailed hearing of both the rival parties, it appears to this Court that the order dated 25.07.2025 passed by Learned Trial Court suffers from infirmity and perversity which attracts judicial indiscipline and violation of the order of the superior Court, as such, the order dated 25.07.2025 passed by Learned Trial Court stands cancelled and the bail bond of the accused persons also accordingly stands cancelled. The accused persons are to surrender before the Learned Trial Court on or before 07.10.2025. Learned Trial Court after receipt of the case record fix new calendar for examination of the rest witnesses giving top priority and pass judgment in accordance with law. As asked for by this Court, Learned Trial Court submitted one report earlier. Perused the same. However, necessary order in administrative side would be passed accordingly. It is made clear that on 07.10.2025 there will be Long Puja Vacation and in such a situation, the accused person also may surrender before the Court of Learned CJM, South Tripura, Belonia, who in the event of surrender of the accused persons, shall pass order of remand for their production before the Court of Learned Additional Sessions Judge, South Tripura, Belonia accordingly. Further, it is ordered that all the criminal courts across the State at the time of consideration of any bail application shall ensure by obtaining one declaration in the form of affidavit from the concerned parties through their engaged Learned Counsel/Counsels mentioning the following facts:

               1. pendency of any other bail application of the same accused to any other upper forum.

               2. the order of the superior Court in this regard so as to avoid any legal conflicts in near future. Registrar(Judl.) be asked to circulate the order to all the Courts across the State. With this observation, this present bail application stands disposed of.”

               As there was long puja vacation, so, at the time of passing order, it was directed that owing to Puja Vacation, the respondent-contemnors are to surrender before the Court of Learned CJM, South Tripura, Belonia with further directions. The order was passed by this Court on 26.09.2025 and on the following day the same was uploaded in the website. As such the submission of Learned Senior Counsel for the respondent-contemnors that they were unaware about the order of this Court is totally incorrect and not accepted. Furthermore, the order was passed on 26.09.2025 in presence of Learned Senior Counsel for the respondent-contemnors and as such the submission of Learned Senior Counsel for the respondent-contemnors at the time of hearing that they had no knowledge about the order also has got no legal basis and stand in the eye of law.

               Furthermore, on perusal of the order dated 27.10.2025 passed Learned Additional Sessions Judge, South Tripura, Belonia in ST(T-1) 35 of 2024, it appears that on 27.10.2025 the respondent-contemnors surrendered before the Learned Trial Court who in his order very specifically stated that in pursuance of the order passed by this Court the respondent-contemnors did not surrender before the Court, rather on 27.10.2025 the respondents Pradip Nama alias Gontu, Jogeshwar Das, Bishu Ranjan Das, Babul Chandra Das alias Babul and Manoranjan Tripura alias Mona surrendered to that Court and as another accused-respondent namely, Pinku Podder did not surrender, so, warrant of arrest was issued against him. After that later on, he surrendered before the Learned Trial Court on 28.10.2025.

               Furthermore, the respondent-contemnors in the affidavit-in-opposition did not raise any grounds to believe their contention that they were unaware about the result of the proceeding of this Court and or they have/had no scope to know the result of the proceeding pending before the Court. Even they could not place any material to justify that they took initiative to surrender before the Learned Trial Court on or before 07.10.2025. As such their contention that they went to the Court and found the Court closed cannot be accepted as true. Even in pursuance of the order of the Court they could surrender themselves before Court Inspector, Belonia on or before 07.10.2025 to enable him to produce them either before the Chief Judicial Magistrate or to the Jurisdictional Magistrate for passing appropriate order of remand for their production to the concerned Court as long Puja Vacation was going on. But the respondents also did not prefer to surrender before Learned CJM, South Tripura, Belonia on 07.10.2025 or prior to that also to ensure compliance of the order passed by this Court.

05. Thus, after hearing both the sides, it appears that the respondent-contemnors wilfully knowing the order passed by this Court on 26.09.2025 disobeyed the order passed by this Court and as such they are found to be guilty of contempt of the Court’s order in pursuance of the provision provided under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

06. In the result, the petition filed by the petitioner-defacto-complainant is hereby allowed. The respondent-contemnors are found to be guilty of the Contempt of Court’s order under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and they are sentenced to fine of Rs.2000/- each in default they should undergo SI for one month each. The respondent-contemnors namely Pradip Nama alias Gontu, Jogeshwar Das, Bishu Ranjan Das, Babul Chandra Das alias Babul, Pinku Podder and Manoranjan Tripura alias Mona are further directed to deposit the fine money to the Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee within a period of 15 days from the date of passing of this judgment and to submit an affidavit in this regard before this Court.

Supply a copy of this judgment/order to Learned Counsel for the parties.

Send down the record to the Learned Trial Court, if any along with a copy of this order/judgment.

With this observation, these present petition stands disposed of.

Pending application(s), if any, also stands disposed of.