A litigant from Uttar Pradesh today faced probably the toughest time of his life in the Supreme Court which first threatened to send him to jail for filing a frivolous petition and finally let him go after imposing a fine of Rs 10,000.
Saif Ullah Khan, who was witnessing the proceedings from the visitors' gallery in the courtroom, literally panicked when Chief Justice J S Khehar asked his counsel to bring him before the bench.
Within moments, Khan was brought by security personnel in front of the dais and he straightaway confessed and started begging for mercy.
'Galti ho gayi. Hame maaf kar dijiye. Aage se nahi hogi' (I committed the mistake. Please forgive me. I will not commit such a mistake in future), Khan, who was standing with folded hands, said.
"We will let you go. You just tell us who asked you to file the case," the bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul, said.
"You are a resident of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh. You filed a PIL in the Allahabad High Court against a hotel in Kanpur. A lot of illegal buildings are being constructed. What is your interest in in this? You just tell us who asked you to file the case," the bench asked Khan in Hindi.
The bench kept persisting with its query as to who asked Khan to file the case in the High Court and in the apex court.
"You just sit down," the bench asked tersely to Khan's lawyer who unsuccessfully tried to save the day for his client.
The bench later imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Khan in addition to Rs 25,000 cost imposed by the High Court for filing the PIL and allowed him to go.
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