Ringing Cell Phone Lead to Jail Sentences

An Indian courts plans to sentence a man for contempt of court for allowing a cellphone to ring during a court case were disrupted, when a policeman's own cell phone also rang during sentencing. The high court in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, was sentencing Madhu Kumar, an employee of the state education department, to three days in jail and fined him US$34 for keeping his phone on when attending court.

However, during the sentencing, the ringing sound of a cell phone owned by Rajesh Prasad Paswan, a police officer in the courtroom was heard. The police officer was then duely charged with the same contempt of court charge as the education employee. The police office now faces jail and a fine, and has until next week to respond to the contempt charge.

Under court rules, Kumar could have been sentenced for up to three months.

Meanwhile, over in the USA a similar situation played itself out as a judge in Charleston sentenced Lashenda Floyd to a night in jail for allowing her phone to ring in court. Floyd was siting in the area reserved for the general public at a sentencing hearing in a murder conviction when her cell phone broke the silence of the moment.

Floyd ran out of the court to answer the phone, but court deputies arrested her for contempt and the following day she was charged with contempt and sentenced to a second night in jail.

Three years ago, state Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal banned cell phones from the court house, and signs were posted to warn the public of the ban."

Posted to the site on 8th September 2003