A magistrate court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad has sentenced a tea vendor to 18 months in jail for throwing slippers at a High Court judge. This case is from 2012. Bhavani Das Bavji, a resident of Rajkot district, carried out this incident out of frustration as his case was pending for a long time.
Chief Judicial Magistrate VA Dhadhali of Mirzapur Rural Court on Thursday convicted Bavji under section 353 of the IPC. This section deals with assault to prevent a government servant from performing his duty.
In his statement to the police, Bavji had claimed that his case was pending for a long time, in despair, he threw his sandal at the judge. Terming the act of throwing slippers at the judge as "highly reprehensible", Magistrate Dhadhali refused to give the benefit of probation to Bavji. This provision pertains to the release of a convict for good conduct.
The magistrate sentenced Bavji, a resident of Bhayavadar town of Rajkot, to a simple jail term of 18 months. Also, in view of his financial condition, no fine was imposed. Bavji had thrown slippers at High Court judge KS Jhaveri during the hearing of his case on 11 April 2012. However, luckily the slippers did not hit the judge.