Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a man who attended a virtual court hearing while sitting on a toilet seat, calling his conduct contemptuous but accepting his unconditional apology.
The incident occurred June 20 during a hearing before Justice Nirzar S. Desai. A video of the man using the toilet during the livestream quickly went viral, prompting the court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings.
On Monday, a division bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice R.T. Vachhani heard the case and directed the man to deposit Rs 1 lakh with the court registry before the next hearing.
“The contemnor has admitted to his conduct during the live-streaming proceedings and submitted that he was ready to tender an unconditional apology,” the bench said.
The one-minute video showed the man placing his phone on the floor of the toilet with the camera pointed toward him. After finishing, he picked up the phone and later rejoined the livestream from a different room. Identified as Abdul Samad of Kim village in Surat, he is the complainant in an assault case.
The court noted that such “indisciplined and insulting behavior” has become common and urged the IT department to develop a mechanism to prevent similar incidents. It also directed that the video be removed from social media immediately.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gujarat High Court has permitted lawyers and litigants to join hearings virtually. Proceedings are live-streamed via the court’s YouTube channel.
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