The Delhi High Court recently sentenced Advocate Gulshan Pahuja to 6 months’ imprisonment and a ₹2000 fine after finding him guilty of contempt of court. A Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja imposed the maximum sentence on Pahuja, saying that he lowered the authority of the court and showed no regret.
“…the contemnor, by his acts, has scandalised the court and lowered the authority of the Court. The contemnor shows no regret for the same. He also does not suggest any course correction. In fact, he maintains that what he did was with the intent of improving the judicial system,” the court stated in the order passed on 16th May. The High Court said that a lesser punishment would embolden him. “We also find that by not imposing adequate punishment on him, we may encourage him to repeat these acts in future and to embolden him in doing the same,” the Court added.
Earlier, on April 21, 2026, the High Court convicted Pahuja of contempt of court under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for posting certain videos containing offensive remarks against judges and the judicial system. The court had granted him time to make his submission on the quantum of sentence. In his submissions, Pahuja challenged his conviction, claiming that it was vitiated and was violative of his rights under Articles 14, 20(3) and 21 of the Constitution of India and the principles of natural justice.
He said that the order of conviction was incorrect, as it was pronounced without giving any reasons for holding him guilty of having committed criminal contempt of Court. Pahuja also said before the court that he would not ask for a reduction of sentence or expect justice from this Court. He further made comments such as ‘adaalaton ki manmarzi badhti jaa rahi hai aur main koi nyay ki umeed nahi kar raha’ (the arbitrary actions of the courts are increasing and I am not expecting any justice) and ‘manmarzi ka dusra arth taanashahi hota hai’ (another word for arbitrariness is dictatorship).
After hearing his remarks, the High Court said that he compounded his contempt by making further scandalous submissions before the court, and “thus, evidently, he is neither repentant nor deserves any mercy”. Therefore, the court went on to impose the maximum punishment.
Following the sentencing order, Pahuja informed the court that he would file an appeal against the decision of the High Court before the Supreme Court. Therefore, the High Court put his sentence on hold for 60 days to allow him the time to file the appeal.
Background of the case
Pahuja had uploaded videos on his YouTube channel “Fight 4 Judicial Reforms” in which he interviewed advocates Shiv Narayan Sharma and Deepak Singh. Advocates Shiv Narayan Sharma and Deepak Singh submitted unconditional apologies. The court accepted their apologies and dropped contempt proceedings against them. However, Pahuja defended himself by saying his videos were part of a campaign for judicial reforms, including audio-video recording of court proceedings.
