Gujarat High Court slaps ₹1 lakh fine on man who attended VC proceedings from toilet

The Gujarat High Court on Monday imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on a man who had attended virtual court proceedings from a toilet seat and was seen relieving himself on live video [Suo motu v Samad Abdul Rehman Shah].

A Division Bench of Justices AS Supehia and RT Vachhani said that the conduct of the concerned person, one Samad Abdul Rehman Shah, was contumacious and that it is considering sending him to jail as well.

"The contemnor has admitted about his conduct during the live-streaming proceedings. Thus, at this stage, we direct the contemnor to deposit ₹1 lakh before the registry of this court before the next date of hearing," the Court ordered.

It also noted that despite its order, the High Court Registrar (Information & Technology) has not filed a reply and no steps have been suggested about how such incidents can be stopped.

The counsel appearing for the Registrar told the Court that he will assist the Court on the next date of hearing.

The Bench then listed the case for further hearing on July 22.

Last month, a video showing a man attending Gujarat High Court virtual proceedings while seated on a toilet and apparently relieving himself, had gone viral on social media.

The incident happened on June 20 before the Bench of Justice Nirzar S Desai.  

The video initially featured a closeup of the man logged in as 'Samad Battery', wearing a Bluetooth earphone around his neck.

He was subsequently seen keeping his phone at a distance, revealing that he was seated on a toilet. The video further showed him cleaning himself and then moving out of the washroom. He then went off-screen for some time before reappearing on video.

According to court records, the man was appearing as a respondent in a case seeking quashing of a first information report (FIR). He was the complainant in the criminal case.

Following an amicable resolution between the parties, the Court quashed the FIR.