Delhi High Court Finds Hockey India Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh Guilty of Contempt

The Delhi High Court has held Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh guilty of contempt of court for wilfully disobeying its order.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said he would hear the issue of sentence on May 4 but granted Singh liberty to "purge" the contempt by undertaking "such measures as found fit."

The court passed the judgement on April 20 on a contempt plea by Syeed Asima Ali, the elected Vice President of Hockey India, who alleged non-compliance with an order passed on January 17, 2025, by the sports body's officials.

The court stated that as per its directions, Hockey India officials were required to give requisite links to the petitioner to enable her to participate in all executive board meetings but they failed to do so for meetings held on July 4, 2025 and July 27, 2025.

It observed that any purported subsequent events did not excuse the officials from their obligation to provide links to the petitioner, when they had not even sought modification of the direction.

"No endeavour has ever been made to purge the contempt. The minutes of the meeting, links for which were not provided to the petitioner, still stares at the face of the Court's subsisting directions. There was not even a whisper of an apology, let alone an unconditional apology. Even otherwise, also, an unconditional apology, unlike the holy water from the Ganges, cannot purify the respondents, specifically Mr. Bhola Nath Singh, of his conscious, concerted, deliberate and willful disobedience of the Court's directions," the court stated in the judgement.

It held that the manner in which Hockey India and Singh conducted himself through the course of the present proceedings amounted to a clear case of contempt of court.

Stating that non-compliance of court orders by a National Sports Federation, which functions under the aegis of and receives funds from the State, was no less than an administrative sin, the court concluded, "This Court finds the respondents, and specifically Mr. Bhola Nath Singh, Secretary General of Hockey India, guilty of committing contempt of Court, by willfully disobeying/not complying with the order dated 17.01.2025".

The order of January 17, 2025 was passed on a petition by Ali for the removal of Singh from the post of secretary general of Hockey India. It was alleged that Singh is ineligible to hold any elected office in Hockey India owing to the tenure and age restrictions enumerated in the Sports Code. As an interim direction, the court asked Hockey India officials to provide the requisite links to the petitioner to enable her to participate in all executive board meetings.