Karnataka HC pulls up judicial officer over alleged road rage, calls conduct 'wholly unbecoming'

The Karnataka High Court has pulled up a judicial officer over her conduct in an alleged road rage incident, saying CCTV footage prima facie showed behaviour "wholly unbecoming" of a member of the judiciary.

The court also raised concerns over the alleged misuse of official position to initiate criminal proceedings against citizens.

Justice M Nagaprasanna, while hearing a petition filed by the accused on Wednesday, viewed CCTV footage of the incident, which allegedly showed Malur Principal Civil Judge and JMFC Gayathri and her husband engaging in a verbal altercation with two-wheeler riders after they overtook the couple's private car.

According to the court, the judicial officer was travelling with her husband in their private car when two accused persons riding a two-wheeler overtook them.

"It transpires that the ego of the judicial officer or her husband is hurt. They chase the vehicle, i.e., the two-wheeler, from their car, and stop them and get down to a squabble," Justice Nagaprasanna said, referring to the CCTV footage.

The State Public Prosecutor submitted that only two accused persons were travelling on the two-wheeler. However, the court noted that at the instance of the judicial officer, a 70-year-old man, the third accused, was also taken into custody.

"It is surprising as to how, in the offences so laid against these petitioners, they were taken into custody merely because the complainant was a judicial officer," the court said.

The court observed that the CCTV footage, which has also circulated on social media, prima facie showed the judicial officer behaving in a manner "totally unbecoming" of the office she holds.

Justice Nagaprasanna said the office of a judge or judicial officer is not one that can be donned within the courtroom and discarded at its threshold. Judicial office, he said, is a continuing public trust, and a judicial officer's conduct outside the courtroom can either erode or sustain public confidence in the institution.

"If the video is noticed, it clearly indicates that it is wholly unbecoming of a judicial officer to get down from the car and indulge in a quarrel with a common man who only did the crime of overtaking the car of a judicial officer," the court said.

The court also termed the incident a "classic example" of alleged abuse of judicial office.

It passed an interim order staying further proceedings and investigation against the petitioners and directed the Registry to place the order before the Chief Justice for further action against the judicial officer.