Judge fines Doctor who hurled rice in Delhi court during murder trial; Lawyers suspect "black magic"

By Dhiraj Beniwal
New Delhi [India], August 14 (ANI): A Delhi court has recently imposed a penalty on a medical surgeon, who is facing trial in a murder case of 2011, for interrupting the court proceedings by throwing rice in infront of the dias in the courtroom.
The lawyers present in court hesitated to come forward to give their arguements, suspecting "black magic" by the accused.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Shefali Barnala Tandon of Tis Hazari court sentenced Dr Chander Vibhas till the court rises next. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs 2000, which he deposited on the same day.
The court had listed to hear on August 11, the case of Vibhas, who is an accused in a case of murder registered at Hari Nagar.
Before the hearing commenced, the court staff and counsel present informed the court that the accused, Vibhas, had thrown some rice grains on the floor under the dais.
Proceedings of the court came to a standstill as advocates did not want to go ahead without getting the premises cleaned.
While dealing with the matter, the court said, "This is very shocking and surprising to the Court that the present accused Dr Chander Vibhas, who is stated to be a Surgeon by profession and belonging to the educated and elite class, has acted in such an unreasonable manner and created an interruption in the Court proceedings."
"Accordingly, this court is constrained to take cognisance of the offence under Section 267 BNS, 2023 against accused Dr Chander Vibhas since proceedings of the Court were halted for about 15-20 minutes and it is triable by this very Court where the said offence has been committed," the court said in the order.
The lawyers present there hesitated to come forward, suspecting black magic by the accused.
The accused tendered an apology to the court.
"After considering all the facts and circumstances, including the apology tendered by the accused and his feeling of remorse, he is sentenced to undergo imprisonment till the rising of the Court and a fine of Rs 2,000 to be deposited with the State," ASJ Tandon ordered on August 11.
The fine was deposited the same day.
On enquiry by the court, the accused stated that he was holding some rice in his hands which had just fallen down. However, he failed to provide any satisfactory explanation on why he was carrying rice in his hands while entering the court and during court proceedings.
The courtroom was full, and the advocates present requested that the Court have the rice removed/cleaned, as they hesitated to approach the dais for their matters to be taken up.
Court proceedings were halted at the request of counsel present in the Court since they suspected Black Magic by the accused. The cleaner came after 10 minutes and cleaned the floor, the court noted in the order. Apparently, a similar incident also took place on August 2, but the court was on leave that day. (ANI)