The Bombay High Court has come down heavily on a magistrate for not complying with its 2021 order directing the trial to be expedited in a dowry harassment case, noting that her excuses for non-compliance were “feeble”.

A division bench of Justice A S Gadkari and Justice Neela Gokhale, in its order of August 9, said the magistrate, presiding over a Navi Mumbai judicial magistrate’s court, paid scant respect to the high court directives, and it seemed that she was not serious in doing her work. A copy of the order was made available on Tuesday. The bench said the magistrate had only given excuses for not completing the trial within the stipulated period.