Last year in December, Upendra Nath Dalai faced a dismissal of his PIL in which he sought to declare Satsang founder Sree Sree Thakur Anukulchandra as a parmatma.
As a consequence of the dismissal, the Supreme Court imposed costs of 1 lakh on him. However, on Monday, the Court took further action by initiating contempt of court proceedings against Upendra Nath Dalai for failing to pay the imposed costs. The Court’s decision was based on what they perceived as “willful disobedience” of their earlier directives.
The Court considered a miscellaneous application (MA) related to the previously dismissed PIL during these proceedings. In December, when the PIL was dismissed, the bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and MR Shah emphasized that India is a secular nation and therefore such matters cannot be pursued through PILs. The costs were imposed on Upendra Nath Dalai for submitting what the Court deemed a “misconceived” argument.
In response to the imposed costs, the petitioner filed a request for the amount to be reduced. However, as of yesterday, the Court noted that the sum had not been deposited by the petitioner. Consequently, the Court proceeded with the initiation of contempt proceedings against Upendra Nath Dalai.
