Holding

The High Court erred in passing adverse remarks against the appellant without notice and the remarks must be expunged.

Summary

The Supreme Court examined an appeal by Deputy Superintendent of Police S.K. Viswambaran (appellant) who sought expunction of adverse remarks made against him by the Kerala High Court in an order relating to petitions filed by two police officers (respondents). The High Court, while considering the respondents' request to delete remarks made by the Sessions Judge, also castigated the appellant for allegedly suppressing forensic material, without giving him notice or an opportunity to be heard. The Court held that the High Court had exceeded the limited scope of inquiry, which was confined to the bona fides of the respondents' investigative conduct, and violated the principles of natural justice by not issuing notice to the appellant. It further observed that the High Court failed to apply the established tests for making disparaging remarks against a person before a court. Consequently, the adverse remarks against the appellant were ordered to be expunged. The appeal was allowed, and the High Court's order was set aside to the extent it contained the appellant's adverse remarks.

Issues considered

The High Court may pass adverse remarks against a person not before it without giving notice and hearing.
Whether the scope of the High Court's inquiry in the respondents' petitions was limited to the conduct of the respondents and could extend to the appellant.
Whether the principles of natural justice were violated in the High Court's order.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 482
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302

Subjects

natural justiceadverse remarksexpunctioncriminal procedureSection 482scope of inquirypolice investigationforensic evidenceprocedural fairness

Judgment

S.K. VISWAMBARAN
A
v.

E. KOYAKUNJU & ORS.

MARCH 3, 1987
B
[B.C. RAY & S. NATARAJAN, JJ.]

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973--,s. 482-Sessions Judge passed
~ strictures against police officials concerning investigation-High Court
\ approached for expunction of adverse remarks-Scope of Inquiry-
Limited only to the bona fides of action of Petitioners before High
- f"- Court-Adverse remarks made by High Court against another Police C
Officer conducting investigation without hearing him-Principles of
natural justice--Opportunity to be given before adverse remarks
-{ made--Tests for making adverse remarks-What are-Whether
followed in the instant case--High Court's order-Validity of.
, D
' The Sessions Judge while acquittiug the accused of. the charge
uuder s.302 IPC entertained serious doubts about PW 16 (Respoudent
No. 2.), the Inspector of Potice, who partly iuvestigated the case, carry·
iug out the cellopbone tape test to lift any fibres of coir sticking to the
plams of the deceased and sendiug the tapes to the Forensic Science
Laboratory and the bona f"ules of the exercise. On the basis of the E
suspicions features mentioned iu his judgment, the Sessions Judge made
severe adverse remarks against PW 16 (Respondent No. 2.) DW 2
(Respondent No. 3) and another policeman and observed that the con-
.duct of these officials was highly opeu to suspicion, that a full-fledged
enquiry shouid be held agaiust them and that "otherwise indiscipline
and the tendency to tamper with official documents and create false F
documents will set at nangbt the very purpose of haviug a police
+- establishment."

The Inspector PW 16 (Respondent No. 2) and the Head Constable
PW 2 (Respondent No. 3) f"lled petitions before the High Court for
expunging the adverse remarks made agaiust them. A Siugle Judge G

-
'
without making any eiraminatlon of the conduct of the petitioners be-
fore him and without considering whether the features noticed by the
Sessions Judge warranted the adverse remarks or not went at a tangent
and put the appellant, a Deputy Snptd. of Police (PW 17), who bad also
iuvestigated the case from 26.11.80 to 5.11.81, iu the dock for having
failed to place before the Court the scientific materials which PW 16 H

501
502 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1987] 2 S.C.R.

(Respondent No. 2) had obtained in the course of investigation to find
A out whether the death of the deceased was due to suicide or homicide.
The learned judge observed that PW 16 (Respondent No. 2) and DW 2
(Respondent No. 3) bad acted in a blemishless manner and the report of
the Forensic Science Laboratory had been obtained through bouafide
investigative process and it was the appellant who had scbemingly kept
B back the crucial records from the notice of the Court in order to secure
a conviction unjustly against the accused and as such the appellant
should be raprimauded in no uncertain terms.

c
Stung ht the remarks made against him without even a hearing, _ . ,
the appellant preferred the instant appeal to seek expunction of the ""I'
remarks.
-
' Anowing the Appeal, ).
HELD: 1. The adverse remarks against the appellant in the
order of the High Court nnder appeal will stand expunged. [512E] '
D
2. When PW 16 and DW 2 moved the High Court for expunging
the adverse remarks against them the scope of the enquiry was commed
to the bona fides or their action in the investigation proceedings and
whether the Sessions Judge was justified in drawing adverse inference
against them on the basis of the suspicious features catalogued by him. 1-
E The High Court was not dealing with au appeal against the acquittal of
the accused and there was no need or occasion for the High Court to go ~

-
into the conduct of the ·appellant. The enqniry was only touching upon
the conduct of PW 16 and DW 2. Furthermore the High Court had
completely overlooked the fact that the appellant ceased to be in charge
or the case on 5.1.81. Thereafter the investigation or the case was taken ~

F charge of by PW 18 and still later by PW 19 and according to DW 2 the
report from the Forensic Science Laboratory was sent to the Crime
-+
Detachment only on 7.1.81 whereas the appellant ceased to be in charge !Ii
orthe case on 5.1.81 itself. It, therefore, passes one's comprehension as
to bow the appellant can be accused of having wilfully suppressed mate- Ji
rial documents from the notice or the Court in order lo secure a convic- I•
G lion unjustify against the accused in a murder case. [SlOD-G)
,l ""'
3. The High Court has not applied its mind to the series of sus-
picious features noticed by the Sessions Judge to draw an adverse infer-
ence against PW 16 and DW 2 in conducting lheso-called cellophone
tape test and sending the tape to the Forensic Science Laboratory for its
H report. The Judge had taken it for granted that PW 16 had actually
S.K. VISWAMBARAN v. E. KOYAKUNJU 503
'
carried out a cellophone tape test, that in carrying out such a test he was A
wedded to scientific methods of investigation, that he and DW 2 had
acted fairly and squarely in trying to find out the real cause of the death
of the deceased and that it was the appellant who had an aversion to the
llSe of scientific methods in investigation of crimes and that the appel·
lant had purposely concealed materials which were favourable to the
accused in order to secure a conviction at any cost. The Judge had failed B
to see that as a matter of fact the accused was not kept in the dark
regarding the cellophone tape test that was deemed to have been done
but on the other hand he bad full information of the test and its result,
and it was on account of that he was able to summon police officials to
figure as defence witnesses and police records as defence exhibits. The
High Court had thus completely misdirected itself in its consideration of C
the petitions filed by respondents 2 and 3 to seek expunction of the
adverse remarks made against them by the Sessions Judge. [SlOG·H;
S11A-C]

4. Even assuming that for expunging the remarks against respon·
dents No. 2 and 3 the conduct of the appellant required scrutiny and D
merited adverse comment, the principles of natural justice required the
High Court to have issued notice to the appellant and heard him before
passing adverse remarks against him if it was considered necessary. By
its failure the High Court has failed to render elementary justice to the
appellant. [SUD-E]
5. It has been judicially recognised that in the matter of making E
disparaging remarks against persons or authorities whose conduct
comes into consideration before Courts of law in cases to be decided by
them, it is relevant to consider (a) whether the party whose conduct is in
qnestion is before the Court or has an opportunity of explaining or
defending himself; (b) whether there is evidence on record bearing on
that conduct justifying the remarks; and (c) whether it is necessary for F
the decision of the case as an integral part thereof, to animadvert on
that conduct. It has also been recognised that judicial pronouncements
must be judicial in nature, and should not normally depart from sobri-
ety, moderation and reserve. [512A-C]

State of U.P. v. Mohd. Naim, (1964] 2 S.C.R. 363, 374 equal to G
AIR 1964 S.C. 702; R.K. Lakshmanan v. A.K. Srinivasan, (1976] 1
SCR 204; AIR 1975 SC 1741 and Niranjan Patnaik v. Sashibhushan
Kar & Anr., (1986) 2 SCC 569, relied upon.
6. Judged in the light of the above tests it is clear that none of
the tests is satisfied in this case. [512D] H
504 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1987] 2 S.C.R.

A CRIMINAL APPELLA1E JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
No. 109 of 1987.

From the Judgment and Order dated 12.6.86 of the Kerala High
Court in Cr!. M.C. No. 511/1982 and 212/1985.

B P.S. Poti, P.N. Puri and E.M.S. Anam for the Appellant.

Baby Krishnan for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

C NATARAJAN, J, This Appeal by Special Leave is by a Gazet-
ted Police Officer to seek expunction of certain adverse remarks pas-
sed against him by the High Court of Kerala in· an order passed with
reference to two Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions filed by Respon-
dents 2 and 3 herein without issuing any notice .to him and without
0
hearing him.

The somewhat unusual circumstances in which the appellant ha~
been made the victim of strictures by the High Court may now be
looked into. One Chandrasekaran Pillai residing within the limits of
Karunagapally Police Station was charged under Section 3021.P.C. for
E having committed the murder of his wife Komalavalli by first beating
her and kicking her and then hanging her in order to make it appear
that it was a case of suicide. The accused's son aged about 12 years and
a neighbour claimed to have witnessed the beating as well as the
accused dragging the deceased to the western side of the house. A
little later the son made bold to go into the house and found his mother
F having with a noose round her neck. He raised alarm and the neigh-
bours including his maternal uncle came to the house and cut the rope
and rendered first aid unsuccessfully because Komalavalli had already
died.

A report was given at Karunagapally Police Station and a case of
G "suspicious death" was registered and investigation was done by Shri
T.P. Rajagopalan, Inspector of Police (Respondent No. 2) who was
examined as P .W. 16 in the Sessions Trial against the accused. As the
brother of deceased Komalavalli was not satisfied with the manner of
investigation of the local police he filed a petition before the Deputy
Inspector General Southern range. Under orders of the Deputy Ins-
H pector General the investigation was entrusted to the Crime Detach-

I
S.K. V!SWAMBARAN v. KOYAKUNJU [NATARAJAN. J.[ 505

ment)n which the appellant was serving as a Deputy Sµpdt. of Police.
A
The appellant look charge of the case and his investigation revealed
that Komalavalli's death was due to homicide and not suicide. The
appellant was incharge of the investigaiion of the case only from
26.11.1980 to 5.1.1981 and thereafter the further investigation was
done by another police officer of the Crime Detachment who was
examined as P. W. 18 in the trial. The charge sheet was eventually filed B
by yet another officer viz. P. W. 19 an Inspector of Police.
'
The defence of the accused was that his wife Komalavalli had
'"" '.~. committed suicide and that he had not murdered her. In support of his
-r- defence the accused placed reliance upon the first Investigating Officer
viz. P. W. 16 carrying out a cellophone tape test on the palms of
Komalavalli and sending the cellophone tapes to the Forensic Science c
--{ Laboratory to find out whether any fibres of coir rope were found in
the cellophone tape and if so whether the fibres had come out of the
coir rope used for the hanging. The report of the Forensic Science
Laboratory was that the cellophone tape contained fibres of coir which
were similar to the coir rope used for the hanging. It was, therefore, D
contended that Komalavalli's •death was due to suicide as otherwise
fibres from the coir rope used for hanging would not have been found
in the palms of her hands. To prove the despatch of the cellophone
.... tapes to the Forensic Science Laboratory and the receipt of the report
from the said Laboratory and its despatch to the Crime Detachment a
Head Constable of Karunagapally Police Station by name E. E
Koyakunju (Respondent No. 1) was examined as Defence Witness
No.2.

The Sessions Judge entertained serious doubts about P .W. 16
carrying out the cellophone tape test to lift any fibres of coir sticking to
the palms of Komalavalli and sending the tapes to the Forensic"Science F
Laboratory and the bona fides of the exercise. We shall set out later
the numerous suspicious features noticed by the Sessions Judge re-
garding the conduct of P.W. 16 and OW 2 with reference to the carry-·
ing out of the cellophone tape test and the despatch of the tapes to the
Forensic Science Laboratory and the entrustment of the report to the
Crime Detachment. For the present we will continue with the narra- G
tive so as to make known the circumstances which have led to the filing
of this Appeal.

After evaluating the prosecution evidence the Sessions Judge
held that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against the
accused beyond reasonable doubt and, therefore, gave him the benefit H
506 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1987] 2 S.C.R.

of doubt and acquitted him of the charge under Section 302 I.P.C. It is
A
significant to note that the acquittal was not rendered in acceptance of
the defence case that Komalavalli had committed suicide but because
the Court felt that it would not be safe to act upon the evidence of
P.W. 2, the son and P.W. 3, the neighbour and convict the accused for
the offence of murder.
B
In the course of his judgment the Sessions Judge made severe
comments against P.W. 16, the Inspector of Police, D.W. 2, Head
Constable and another Policeman P. C. 2599 and observed as follows:
,~,..
"Therefore in my view this is a fit case where appropriate
action has to be taken against P.W. 16, D.W. 2 and P.C. 2599
c who wrote Ext. 014 for the reasons stated earlier. Other-
wise indiscipline and the tendency to tamper with official )-
documents and create false documents will set ai naught
the very purpose of having a police estabishment. When
one wing of the police establishment tries to. investigate
D properly and to book the culprit, P. W. 16, D. W. 2 and P.C.
2599 were trying to neutralise all the work that has been
done by the Crime Detachment and to help the accused to
get an acquittal. This is a serious situation which the higher
authorities in the police department have to take serious ~
notice of and curb the tendency even in the beginning."
E
Aggrieved by the strictures passed by the Sessions Judge, the
Inspector (P.W. 16) and the Head Constable (D.W. 2) file<! Criminal
Misc. Petitions before the High Court of Kerala for expunging the
adverse remarks made against them. A learned single judge of the
High Court, without making any examination of the conduct of the
F petitioners before him and without considering whether the features
noticed by the Sessions Judge warranted the adverse remarks or not
went at a tangent and put the appellant in the dock for having failed to
place before the Court the scientific materials which P. W. 16 had
obtained in the course of investigation to find out whether Komalaval-
li's death was due to suicide or homicide. The learned judge had taken
- G it for granted that P. W. 16 and D. W. 2 had acted in a blemishless
manner and that the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory had
been obtained through bona fide investigative process and it was the
appellant who had schemingly kept back the crucial records from the
notice of the Court in order to secure a conviction unjustly against the
accused and as such the appellant should be raprimanded in no uncer-
H tain terms. The relevant portions in the judgment where the appeliant
S.K. VISWAMBARAN v. KOYAKUNJU [NATARAJAN, J.] 507

who was examined as P.W. 17 in te Sessions Trial has been criticised A
are as under:-

"(para 6.) P.W. 17, Dy. S.P. who conducted the investiga-.
tion kept the above facts concealed purposely. If the report
sent by the Assistant Director of forensic Science Labora-
tory was made available to the court it would have gone a B
long way to establish innocence of the accused. So to foist a
false case of murder on the account he did not send the
report of the Assistant Director of Forensic Science

- Laboratory to the Court He pleaded complete ignorance
of the above examination when examined before court.
c
(para 8.) The part played by P.W. 17 is not beyond suspi-
cion. He had purposely concealed materials which were
favourable to the accused. It would appear that this officer
was averse to scientific methods being made use of in in-
vestigation of crimes. His attempt was only to see that the
accused is convicted in this case. This should not have been D
the approach of a senior officer like P. W. 17, who was
investigating a very serious crime. The life and liberty of
innocent persons should not be placed at the mercy of such
unscrupulous officers. It will be proper for the higher offi-
cers in the department to look into this matter and take
proper corrective measures for future guidance." E

Stung by the remarks made against him without even hearing,
the appellant has preferred this Appeal to seek expunction of the
'-". remarks.

+ Now let us have a look at the distressing and suspicious features
noticed by the Sessions Judge in the conduct of P. W. 16 and D. W. 2 in
F

the "cellophone tape test" carried out by them and in obtaining the
report of the Forensic Science Laboratory and the despatch of the
opinion to the Crime Detachment. The relevant portions extracted
from the Judgment are as follows:-
G
(i) "The inquest Report prepared by this witness (P.W. 16)
does not show that he had seized any cellophone tape or
coir or that they were sent to the Forensic Science
Laboratory";

(ii) "There are no documents to show that the tape and coir H
508 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1987] 2 S.C.R.

were taken into custody for the purpose of sending them to
A
the Forensic Science Laboratory in the case diary";

(iii) "Normally any material to be examined by the Forensic
Science Laboratory will be sent only through the court.
Admittedly the cellophone tape and the coir were not sent
B through court. On the other hand it is stated that they were
sent to the laboratory through a constable. But the case
diary does not show that any constable was sent to the
Forensic Science Laboratory for handing over these arti-
cles";

(iv) "P.W. 16 did not prepare, any mahazar for seizure of any
--
c cellophone tape and inquest report also does not state any-
thing about any tape said to have been affixed by him on >-
the palm or the dead body and taken for the purpose of
examination at the laboratory";

D (v) "D.W. 1 Assistant Director of the Forensic Science
Laboratory, Trivandrum, examined by the defence to
prove his report Exhibit D .10 regarding the presence of
small bits of coconut fibres bearing similarity to the coir
rope that was also sent, had stated in cross examination ~
that even if the tape was affixed to the coir (instead of the
E palms) .and then sent, it will contain the fibres similar to
the one found on the coir''; ~

F
(vi) "The investigation was taken over by the Crime Detach-
ment on 26.11.1980. The cellophone tapes and the coir
pieces are said to have been sent by P.W. 16 to the labora-
tory on 1.12.80 when he had ceased to be the Investigating~
--
Officer;'"

(vii) "Even if he had taken any cellophone tape and coir pieces
at the time of inquest or thereafter and wanted them to be .
examined by the laboratory the proper course for him
G would have been to send them to the Dy. S.P. who was
investigating the case on 1.12.1980;"

(viii) D.W. 2 Head Constable, summoned and examined by the
defence to prove the sending of the cellophone tapes and
coir to the laboratory and the report received from the
H laboratory had stated "that there is no document in the ·
S.K. VISWAMBARAN v. KOYAKUNJU [NATARAJAN, J.J 509

Policy Station to prove that cellophone tape or coir piece A
were sent from Karunagappally Police Station to the
Forensic Science Laboratory, Trivandrum."

(ix) "He further stated that the report received from the
laboratory was sent to the Crime Detachment on 7. l .1981
but claimed that there is nothing to show that it was re- B
I ceived by any officer of the Crime Detachment Office. The
~· despatch register Ext. 013 only shows that a cover was
handed over to a constable for delivery to the Crime

-- -~-·
I
Detachment Office. But there is no acknowledgement to
show that the constable had actually hande.d over the same
to the office of the Crime Detachment at Quilon." c
~~ (x) "D.W. 2 produced a notebook Ext. D.14 said to have been
maintained by the constable to whom this cover was
handed over for delivery at the office of the Crime Detach-
ment. In this the curious aspect is that the entry regarding
this handing over is written in a sheet of paper which is D
affixed in the note book as an extra sheet ... . . . This
entry Ext. D. 14 has been purposely manufactured for the
purpose of this case and I have no doubt that it has been
done at the instance of D. W. 2 the Head Constable and
P.C. 2599 who wrote Ext. D. 14. Therefore the constable
who wrote Ext. D. 14 and OW 2 are equally responsible E
for this fraud."

_. (xi) "The extent to which DW2 would go to help the accused is
evident from the fact that he voluntarily producted Ext.
D.17."
+ (xii) "Ext. D.17 is a letter sent from the Forensic Science
F

Laboratory to the S.I. on 15.11.1980." This letter states
that the sealed packet said to contain the MOs involved in
Crime 220 of 1980 of Karunagapally Police Station were
being returned unopened for want of forwarding note and
certificate and hence the sealed packet may be resubmitted G
with proper forwarding note and certificate. At the bottom
of this letter in vernacular it is written "cellophone tape."
Except this vernacular writing there is nothing to show that
the MOs referred to in Ext. D.17were cellophone tape and
coir piece ...... As the packet sent from the Karunagap-
ally Police Station was not opened, by the Forensic Science H
510 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1987] 2 S.C.R.
'
Laboratory, the writing in vernacular at the bottom of Ext.
A
D .17 could not have been written by anybody from the
laboratory. It is a subsequen! interpollation probably at
the instance of D.W. 2. This was also interferring with
official documents and tampering with it by D. W. 2 or
somebody from-the Police Station at Karunagapally.
B
It was with reference to all these features the Sessions Judge
made his adverse remarks against P. W. 16, D. W. 2 and P.C. 2599 and -~
observed that the conduct of the concerned official was highly open to
suspicion, that as such a full fledged enquiry should be held against __·•·" ,..
them and that :·otherwise indiscipline and the tendency to tamper with '
official documents and create false documents will set at naught the
c very purpose of having a police establishment."

Coming now to the merits of this Appeal when P.W. 16 and
D. W. 2 moved the High Court for expunging the adverse remarks
against them the scope of the enquiry was confined to the bonafides of
D their action in the investigation proceeding and whether the Sessions
Judge was justified in drawing adverse inferences against them on the
basis of suspicious features catalogued by him. The High Court was
not dealing with an appeal against the acquittal of the accused and
there was no need or occasion for the High Court to go into the ~
conduct of the appellant. The enquiry in the Criminal Misc. Petitions
E was only touching upon the conduct of P. W. 16 and D. W. 2 and not
the conduct of the appellant. Furthermore one material fact which the
, High Court had completely over-looked is that the appellant ceased to
be in charge of the case on 5.1.1981. Thereafter the investigation of
the case was taken charge of by P. W. 18 and still later by P. W. 19.
Even according to D. W. 2 the report from the Forensic Science
F Laboratory was sent to the Crime Detachment only on 7.1.1981 '-t
·-
whereas the appellant ceased to be incharge of the case on 5.1.1981
itself. It, therefore, passes one's comprehension as to how the appel-
lant can be accused of having wilfully suppressed material documents
from the notice of the court in order to secure a conviction unjustly
against the accused in a murder case. The High Court, it is surprising
G to find has not applied its mind to the series of suspicious features
noticed by the Sessions Judge to draw an adverse inference against ;)... .
P. W. 16 and D. W. 2 in conducting the so-called cellophane tape test
and sending the tape to the Forensic Science Laboratory for its report.
The learned judge has taken it for granted that P. W. 16 had actually
carried out a cellophane tape test, that in carrying out such a test he
H was wedded to scientific methods of investigation and that he and DW
S.K. VISWAMBARAN v. KOYAKUNJU [NATARAJAN,_J.J 511

2 had acted fairly and squarely in trying to find out the real cause of
death of Komalavalli and that it was the appellant who had an aversion A
to the use of scientific methods in investigation of crimes and that the
appellant had purposely concealed materials which were favourable to
the accused in order to secure a conviction at any cost. The learned
judge had failed to see that as a matter of fact the accused was not kept
in the dark regarding the cellophone tape test that was deemed to have B
been done but on the other hand he had full information of the test and
its result, and it was on account of that he was able to summon police
officials to figure as defence witnesses and police records as defence

-- exhibits. We are, therefore, clearly of opinion that the High Court had
completely misdirected itself in its consideration of the petitions filed
by respondents 2 and 3 to seek expunction of the adverse remarks C
made against them by the Sessions Judge.

We have also to point out a grievous procedural error committed
by the High Court. Even assuming for argument's sake that for ex-
punging the remarks against respondents 2 and 3 the conduct of the
appellant required scrutiny and merited adverse comment, the princi- D
pies of natural justice required the High Court to have issued notice to
the appellant and heard him befoe passing adverse remarks against
him if it was considered necessary. By its failure the High Court has
);, failed to render elementary justice to the appellant.

Yet another serious infirmity contained in the impugned order is E
that the High Court has failed to bear in mind the well-settled princi-
ples of law laid down by this Court in more than one case that should
govern the Courts before disparaging remarks are made against
persons or authorities whose conduct comes into consideration before
Courts of law in cases arising before them for decision. In State of U.P.
+ v. Modh. Nairn, [1964] 2 S.C.R. 363, 374equal to AIR 1964 S.C. 702 it
was held as follows:
F

"If there is one principle of cardinal importance in the
administration of justice, it is this: the proper freedom and
independence of Judges and Magistrates must be mainta-
ined and they must be allowed to perforrn their functions G
freely and fearlessly and without undue interference by
anybody, even by this Court. At the same time it is equally
necessary that in expressing their opinions Judges and
Magistrates must be guided by considerations of justice,
fair play and restraint. It is not infrequent that sweeping
generalisations defeat the very purpose for which they are H
512 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1987] 2 S.C.R.

made. It has been judicially recognised that in the matter of
A making disparaging remarks against persons or authorities
whose conduct comes into consideration before courts of
law in cases to be decided by them, it is relevant to consider
(a) whether the party whose conduct is in question is before
the court or has an opportunity of explaining or defending
B himself; (b) whether there is evidence on record bearing on
that conduct justifying the remarks; and (c) whether it is
necessary for the decision of the case, as an integral part
thereof, to animadvert on that conduct. It has also been

c
recognised that judicial pronouncements must be judicial
in nature, and should not normally depart from sobriety,
moderation and reserve".
~ -
This ratio has been followed in R.K. Lakshmannan v. A.K. Sriniva-
sa'n, [1976] 1 SCR 204: AIR 1975 SC 1741 and Niranjan Patnaik v.
Sashibhushan Kar & Anr., [1986] 2 SCC 569 (to which one of us was a
party). Judged in the light of the above tests, it may be seen that none
D of the tests is satisfied in this case. It is indeed regrettable that the High
Court should have lightly passed adverse remarks of a very serious
nature affecting the character and professional competence and in-
tegrity of the appellant in purported desire to render justice to respon-
dents 2 and 3 in the petition filed by them for expunction of adverse
remarks made against them.
E
The appeal is, therefore, allowed and the adverse remarks
against the appellant in the order of the High Court which have been
extracted above will stand expunged from the order under appeal.

A.P.J. Appeal allowed.