Madhya Pradesh High Court has accepted the unconditional apology of BJP MLA Sanjay Satyendra Pathak while disposing of the criminal contempt criminal contempt action initiated against him by taking suo motu cognizance. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal made it clear in its decision that any person directly or indirectly associated with any pending case should not try to call or send messages to meet the judge hearing that case.
The court considered it in the category of criminal contempt, but also said that in this case there was not such a serious obstruction in the judicial process that punishment should be given. Therefore, while accepting the MLA's unconditional apology, he was given a stern warning not to repeat such a mistake in future.
The case started with a writ petition filed by Ashutosh Dixit. In the petition, a demand was made to give instructions to register an FIR after completing the investigation as per law on the complaint dated January 31, 2025. In the complaint, three companies associated with Sanjay Satyendra Pathak were accused of causing a loss of about Rs 1200 crore to the state government by illegal mining. The hearing of this petition took place on 1 September 2025. During that time, the concerned judge mentioned in the order that Sanjay Pathak had tried to call him to discuss this matter. For this reason, he recused himself from hearing the case and sent the case to the Chief Justice for constituting a suitable bench.
After this, Ashutosh Dixit filed another petition demanding judicial cognizance of this incident. On April 2, 2026, the division bench of the High Court directed the registry to take suo motu cognizance and register a case of criminal contempt against Sanjay Satyendra Pathak. The court issued a notice seeking clarification from the MLA and also directed him to appear personally. Meanwhile, Ashutosh Dixit also approached the Supreme Court, but after withdrawal of the special leave petition, his intervention application was also rejected by the High Court. However, he was allowed to assist the court.
In his reply, MLA Sanjay Satyendra Pathak apologized unconditionally and said that around August 30, 2025, he had mistakenly called Judge Vishal Mishra, which he immediately disconnected. After this a message was sent only for the purpose of introduction. He said that there was no conversation of any kind with the judge nor did he have any intention of influencing the judicial process. Expressing deep respect towards the court, he also expressed regret and remorse for his mistake. His senior advocate, citing several decisions of the Supreme Court, argued that if the mistake was unintentional and the accused is sincerely apologizing unconditionally, then the court can accept the apology.
Referring to Sections 2(C), 12 and 13 of the Contempt Act 1971, the division bench said that calling the judge and then sending messages amounts to interference in the judicial process. The court also said that Sanjay Pathak did not deny the fact that the call was made but considered it his mistake and apologized. However, the court also found that the incident did not cause real or serious obstruction to the judicial process, hence in view of the provisions of the law and the unconditional apology, it would be appropriate to accept his apology rather than punish him.
In its final order, the High Court said that public representatives are expected to behave more responsibly towards law and judiciary. Therefore, Sanjay Satyendra Pathak's unconditional apology is accepted, but he is given a clear warning not to repeat any such behavior in future. With this, the court ended the criminal contempt proceedings initiated on its own.
