"I direct that respondent (S K Srivastava) be committed to civil prison to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of fifteen days. It is ordered accordingly. In addition, a fine of Rs 2000 is also imposed on him," Justice Rajiv Shakdher said.
The court held Srivastava guilty of its contempt for disobeying its various orders which had restrained him from using "sexually offensive and scurrilous" statements against his two women colleagues in the Income Tax Department.
Justice Shakdher, who kept his order at abeyance for two weeks to enable Srivastava to appeal against it, said, "I have not seen, in the demeanour of the respondent, any penitence or remorse. Therefore, the only conclusion that I can come to, is that, the respondent is guilty of wilfully and consciously violating the orders of the court given on March 1, September 29, 2011, as also order dated July 31, 2012."
The court's verdict came on the contempt plea of two women IT officials, who have not been named and referred to as Ms X and Y, that despite judicial orders, Srivastava has been using derogatory statements against them in his official and other communications.
"The fact that even thereafter the respondent filed a petition, in which offending statements were made against the petitioner, only goes to show that the respondent is unrepentant. To perhaps get around the strict letter of the law, the respondent had his wife Soni Srivastav address a communication to the Finance Minister, which as noticed by me above, contains the same set of offending remarks against the petitioners. This approach of the respondent clearly reveals, his skewed mind-set," it said.
