The Madras High Court on Friday, December 15, 2023, sentenced IPS officer G. Sampath Kumar to 15 days of simple imprisonment in a contempt of court petition filed by ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni against the officer for having made contumacious remarks against the Supreme Court as well as the High Court.
Justices S.S. Sundar and Sunder Mohan, however, suspended the sentence for a period of 30 days to enable the contemnor to prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court. The suspension was ordered by the court suo motu though the contemnor had not made any such plea.
In the petition filed through senior counsel P.R. Raman, the cricketer had urged the court to punish Mr. Kumar for his remarks against the judiciary in his written statement filed in response to a ₹100 crore defamation suit filed against the IPS officer by the cricketer in 2014 for having named him in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.
Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram had granted permission to the cricketer, as required under the Contempt of Courts Act, to move the criminal contempt of court petition after being satisfied that the remarks made by the IPS officer in the written statement amounted to scandalising court proceedings.