Gujarat High Court slaps ₹2 lakh costs on man for attending virtual hearing from lavatory

The Gujarat High Court recently imposed costs of ₹2 lakh on a 42-year-old man who joined virtual court hearing from a lavatory..The order was passed by Justice MK Thakker who observed that the act was unacceptable and lowered the dignity of the Court."In such scenario, the indecent act is not only unacceptable but it is a shameful and is required to be strictly condemned. If Courts do not deal with such a person with strong hands then, that may result (in) lowering the dignity of the institution in the eyes of public," the Court said in its order of March 5. .The man, Dhavalbhai Kanubhai Ambalal Patel, who is the son of the respondent in a case, had joined virtual hearing from a lavatory on February 17.A viral video related to the incident prompted an inquiry and a report was sought by the Court from Sola Police Station to identify the person in the video.The investigation revealed that on February 17, someone joined the court hearing using the name “Kanubhai” but behaved in an indecent manner, leading to his removal from the session.The individual attempted to rejoin, but since he appeared to be in a lavatory, he was disconnected again. Later, the same person rejoined using the another case number.The Court then passed an order on February 27 asking Patel and his father (the respondent in the matter) to remain present before the Court on March 5.When the matter was taken up on March 5, advocate Amresh Patel, representing the father, informed the Court that while accessing the High Court’s website and joining the hearing via Zoom platform, the son mistakenly joined the online proceedings. Since it was his first time using the High Court's website, he unintentionally made an error, the counsel said and also apologised to the Court..The Court noted that the man held a B.Sc. degree, was around 42 years old, and was employed with the Reliance Group. Therefore, it could not be accepted that a person like him was not well-versed in operating Zoom application, the Court said.In light of the same, the Court imposed costs of ₹2 lakh on the man."This Court deems it fit to impose exemplary costs of ₹2,00,000 to the Dhaval Kanubhai Patel, who is present before this Court and same shall be deposited with the Registry within a period of two weeks from today. On depositing the costs, the Registry is directed to remit ₹50,000 in the account of the Shishugruh Paldi, Ahmedabad and remaining amount in the account of the Gujarat High Court Legal Aid Services Authorities."Advocates IG Joshi appeared for the petitioner, Gujarat State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited.Advocate Amresh N Patel appeared for the father-son duo. .[Read Order]