Mumbai lawyer gets jail for 'Tareeq pe tareeq' act

‘Tareeq pe tareeq milti aayi hai m’lord lekin insaaf nahi mila [We have received adjournment after adjournment from the court but not justice].” Actor Sunny Deol mouthed this line, which went on to become one of the most memorable filmy lines of all-time, in the movie Damini. On screen, the hard-hitting speech earned the advocate applause.

But advocate NB Deshmukh of the Bombay high court who nearly reproduced the scene, a harsher version of it perhaps, in a court room in 2008, felt the pinch of reality on Tuesday after the court held him guilty of criminal contempt of court and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for four months.

The court observed that Deshmukh insulted the court which was “unbecoming” of an advocate.

On October 10, 2008, a single judge of the high court had issued a show-cause notice to Deshmukh, asking why no criminal contempt should be initiated against him.

As per the court’s record, Deshmukh was upset that a judge did not hear his client’s case, allegedly pending for 15 years. He gave vent to his frustration by disrupting the proceedings of another case.

He hurled abuses at the court in an “unruly and rowdy fashion,” justices AM Khanwilkar and AP Bhangale recorded in their order holding him guilty.

In his reply to the show-cause notice, Deshmukh admitted he had said, “Are we dogs? Don’t treat us like animals. Are we running water (sic) in our nerves and others blood? Are we going to get justice in this life or not? Only (actor) Salman Khan’s case gets quick disposal…” before the single judge’s court.

He had justified his act by saying that this was an earnest criticism of the judiciary, and he was venting “true, real, purely natural feelings and the expressions (sic).” Deshmukh had twice refused to give an unconditional apology to the court.

“The said utterances, if read as a whole and in the context of his unruly behaviour, clearly tend to lower the authority, majesty and dignity of the court,” the judges held.

Holding that an advocate is a wheel of the chariot of justice, the judges further noted: “Such behaviour of the advocate would not only result in undermining or lowering the authority of the court but also tend to interfere with the due course of the judicial proceeding and obstruct the administration of justice.”

The court also restrained Deshmukh from appearing before any court in Maharashtra till he has served his punishment sentence.