In a firm blow against defiance dressed as dissent, the Gujarat High Court has sentenced Advocate Devesh Bhatt to three months in jail and slapped him with a ₹1 lakh fine for his relentless barrage of wild accusations against judges, judicial officers, and even Chief Justices—accusations laced with claims of corruption, caste bias, and misconduct.
His offence wasn’t a one-off rant. Bhatt authored a torrent—over 52 letters and communications—directed not just at the judiciary, but even at the President of India, seeking sanction to prosecute sitting judges. The Court noted this wasn’t criticism in the spirit of reform but a concerted campaign to malign the institution and disrupt the wheels of justice.
Justices AS Supehia and RT Vachhani, presiding over the matter, had seen enough. Bhatt’s behavior wasn’t merely insubordination—it was criminal contempt under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Despite repeated opportunities, Bhatt skipped hearings, disobeyed court orders, and, in true rebellious fashion, kept up his tirade even as contempt proceedings were underway.
“The summary jurisdiction of this Court… demands from this Court to curb this nuisance with an iron hand,” the judges stated, underscoring that the dignity of individual judges cannot be allowed to be publicly trashed with impunity.
To make matters worse, Bhatt had also turned his legal guns on the amicus curiae in the case, Senior Advocate Asim Pandya, filing a criminal complaint that the High Court later stayed. Pandya, in turn, pushed for the maximum penalty, calling Bhatt’s actions a calculated strike on the foundation of the legal system.
Even the Bar Council of Gujarat had seen enough—Bhatt had already been debarred from practice for professional misconduct. His court-appointed counsel asked for mercy, pointing to his failing health and the fact that some allegations were past their expiry date, legally speaking.
But the Court wasn’t swayed. While it agreed that time-barred issues could be excluded, around 25 instances remained that, in the Court’s eyes, clearly crossed the threshold of contempt.
The judges didn’t hold back: “An attack on Judges… must be met with the strong arm of the law in the name of public interest and public justice.”
The sentence? Three months of simple imprisonment.
The punishment didn’t stop there. A deposit of ₹5 lakh made by Bhatt—linked to a breached undertaking from 2016—was ordered to be forfeited, with accrued interest. Add to that the ₹1 lakh fine imposed under the Gujarat High Court’s contempt rules, and Bhatt’s crusade against the judiciary now carries a hefty price tag—both financial and personal.
And as a final act, the Court threw out Bhatt’s complaint against Pandya, putting a full stop on a saga of unfounded allegations and courtroom insubordination.
