The Supreme Court expressed strong disapproval of the conduct of a litigant's father who allegedly called the Chief Justice of India's brother to question an order passed by the court.
CJI Surya Kant warned of possible criminal contempt action and described the incident as an attempt to improperly influence judicial proceedings.
The case pertains to a plea filed by Nikhil Kumar Punia, who claimed to have converted to Buddhism and was seeking minority reservation benefits despite being born into an upper-caste Hindu family.
The court had earlier dismissed his claim, calling it a 'new kind of fraud', and questioned how upper-caste general category candidates could claim minority status to secure admission benefits meant for disadvantaged groups.
The bench also rejected any suggestion that such actions could influence the course of proceedings and warned the petitioner's counsel to consider withdrawing from the case after verifying the facts.
