There are instances when an aggressive litigant scares the court hearing his or her case. Such instances do happen off and on. The result is that the Judge loses interest in the case and tries to postpone it so that it goes before some other Bench. Even an aggressive lawyer meets the same kind of treatment.

Ideally, the presentation before the court, whether by a lawyer or a litigant in person, should be such that it evokes court’s deepest interest and then the court may start thinking if something can be done. This is what one learns from experienced lawyers. During my youth, I had the opportunity to hear Palkhivala as well as Seervai. One feels spell bound. And also, I watched arguments of some of the lawyers whom most will avoid. It is a matter of choice how you present yourself before court. One can vent his or her personal anger or create a scene in the court, but it does not make any impact on the court. Sometimes litigants suffer due to such behaviour.

There are a few instances when I felt that the Hon’ble Court ought to have been circumspect in its observations on my submissions but one has to get along with such courts also keeping in view that after all they too are human beings. They too make mistakes. Once the Hon’ble court made an observation on my application that it was a “misguided” application. Sense of politeness would have guided the Hon’ble Court to describe the application as misconceived which is the word generally used by the courts. During the course of arguments, an oral observation was also made that this kind of application was not expected from a lawyer of my experience. This was also uncalled for. My view is that the Hon’ble court was unable to appreciate the compulsions under which I was constrained to move the application. I wish the case should have been studied properly before dismissing the application. My impression is that the Hon’ble court was in too much hurry to dispose of the application.

All these things do happen occasionally in courts. A lawyer’s wisdom sometimes is to remain silent or at least to be resilient. There is no harm in behaving as if the lawyer has taken the blame though the fault is not his or her. Why to be egoistic and make the situation still worse? Sometimes dignity demands this. Ultimately the system should go on for the benefit of litigants.