BJP MLA Sanjay Pathak who phoned judge apologises for contempt in Madhya Pradesh high court

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: The BJP MLA from Vijayraghavgarh constituency in Katni district of MP and former minister, Sanjay Pathak, appeared in person before the division bench headed by the Chief Justice and tendered unconditional apology for making a phone call to a judge of the high court -Justice Vishal Mishra- who was hearing a case against his family members in a matter pertaining to alleged illegal mining. Tendering apology in the court, Pathak, known as a mining baron, said he made the call to Justice Mishra by mistake. After listening to Pathak, the court deferred hearing in the case to May 14. The court ordered Pathak to be present in the court during the next hearing, too. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf had ordered criminal contempt proceedings against Pathak in response to a petition filed by Ashutosh Dixit, also a resident of Katni. In his petition Dixit said that Justice Mishra disclosed in the open court that Pathak had tried to influence him by making a phone call and recused himself from the case in which Pathak's mother and son were a party. Dixit was the complainant in the illegal mining case in question as well. Following hearing of Dixit's plea, the HC had ordered initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Pathak. During hearing on Tuesday, Dixit moved an application seeking to become an intervener in the contempt of court case against Pathak but the court dismissed the application saying that he could put his point of view in the case before the court without being an intervener. In the previous hearing of the case, Pathak had tendered an unconditional apology in the court in an affidavit saying the same thing which he said verbally in the court on Tuesday. The court, while taking his affidavit on record, had summoned him to court in the hearing of the case on Tuesday.