Delhi court Tuesday let off Delhi High Court Bar Association's (DHCBA) ex-President Rajiv Khosla, convicted for assaulting a woman lawyer in 1994, with a total compensation of Rs 40,000 to the state and the victim.
The order on sentencing was pronounced in a courtroom thronged by hundreds of lawyers.
While few lawyers stood atop tables and chairs to hear the pronouncement, others chanted slogans of “Vakeel Ekta Zindabad” and “Rajiv Khosla Zindabad” and applauded after the order.
Mr Khosla was convicted last month in the assault case for offences punishable under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the India Penal Code (IPC). Complainant Sujata Kohli had alleged that Mr Khosla grabbed her by her hair and dragged her in August 1994.
The maximum punishment under these Sections entails jail term of up to two years.
Ms Kohli, who was a lawyer at Tis Hazari court at that time, went on to become a judge in the Delhi judiciary and retired as a District and Sessions Judge last year.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gajender Singh Nagar ordered, “For 323 IPC, Khosla has to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000 - Rs 10,000 each to state and victim and for 506 IPC, he has to pay Rs 20 thousand - Rs 10 thousand each to state and victim within one month.”
Before the order was pronounced, chaos marked the courtroom with lawyers chanting “shame, shame, shame” and saying that the judge was working “under pressure”. Police personnel also stood outside the courtroom for security.
“This court was favouring the complaint in all manner. She took undue advantage of her position after becoming the judge,” advocate Birender Sangwa, representing Mr Khosla, told the court.
Ms Kohli, who appeared through the video conference said that post-judgment, Mr Khosla used unparliamentary language against the court and the judge.
“Why is he being allowed to enter the court with a crowd? He is here with 100s of lawyers. The convict is, again and again, reflecting that he has no regard for rule of law. He loves to abuse the court,” she said.
Advocate Sangwa rebutted saying that his client neither used unparliamentary langue in the court nor threatened her or tampered with the witnesses. “Khosla has earned the goodwill,” he told the court.
Mr Khosla was convicted for the offences on October 29. In the judgment, the court noted that Kohli's allegation of being pulled by hair and arm by Khosla and the threat that she will not be allowed to practice from Delhi's Tis Hazari Court was "absolutely truthful and creditworthy".
The allegations against Khosla were that in July 1994, when he was the Secretary of Delhi Bar Association (DBA), he asked Kohli to join a seminar and on her refusal, threatened her that all facilities from the Bar Association would be withdrawn and she would be dispossessed of her seat as well.
Ms Kohli had filed a civil suit on August 1, 1994, seeking injunction but despite that, her table and chair were removed from their spot.
Just before the civil judge hearing her suit could inspect the spot, Mr Khosla, along with a mob of 40-50 lawyers, allegedly surrounded her, she claimed.
According to her complaint, Mr Khosla pulled her hair, dragged her, twisted her arms, uttered filthy abuses, and threatened her.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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