Man Captured Seated On Toilet Seat During Gujarat High Court's Online Proceedings

The hearing of proceedings before a single judge bench of Gujarat High Court last week was witness to the appearance of a man who was purportedly sitting on a toilet. 

The purported incident took place while Justice Nirzar S Desai was hearing a case seeking quashing of an FIR  for offence of cheque bouncing on June 20 (at items 64-65). The video of the proceedings available on YouTube, thereafter shows the man getting up and moving out of the bathroom; he is subsequently seen sitting in another room.

Incidentally the individual was the original complainant in an FIR registered against two men. The applicants against whom the FIR was registered had moved the high court seeking quashing of the FIR registered under Sections 115(2)(Voluntarily causing hurt), 117(2)(Voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 352(Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351(2)(Criminal intimidation), 296(Obscene acts and songs) and 54 (Abettor present when offence is committed) BNS, as the parties had reached a settlement. 

When the matter was eventually called, the court, after noting of the contention by the parties that they had amicably resolved the issue including an affidavit filed by the complainant (respondent no. 2) declaring that the "dispute between the applicants and respondent No.2 is resolved", quashed the FIR against the applicants. 

However this is not the first such incident; earlier this year the high court imposed a cost of Rs. 2 Lakh on a man for attending court proceedings through video conferencing from a lavatory and has further asked him to perform community service by cleaning the gardens in the high court premises for two weeks.

Meanwhile in 2020, the Gujarat High Court while taking a stern view of the "irresponsible conduct" of an Advocate who was seen smoking during the course of Court proceedings via video conferencing, had imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000 upon him.