In Brief
HSBC sued to enforce a court-ordered deposit of USD 60 million by alleged contemnors in a bank account, which arose from arbitration proceedings. The Supreme Court found the respondents in wilful breach of its judgment (dated 19.08.2020) and subsequent directions (dated 06.05.2021) to deposit the shortfall. While the Court held them guilty of contempt, it gave them one final four-week opportunity to comply before deciding on punishment, recognizing that genuine inability due to circumstances beyond control may be a valid defence, but rejecting their plea of inability as lacking credibility given repeated failures despite ample time and prior rejections by the Court.
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