The Gujarat High Court while initiating suo-motu contempt action against the litigant who appeared in a Video Conference hearing from a bathroom, observed that such disorderly and uncontrolled behaviours have become frequent.

The Court took serious note of the news article published in the Ahmedabad Mirror highlighting conduct of a litigant in virtual proceedings who joined the live streaming of a Court proceedings of Justice Nirzar Desai from bathroom.

The Division Bench of Justice AS Supehia and Justice RT Vachhani ordered, "......Registry is directed to register suo motu contempt proceedings against the person who is seen in the video upon appropriate verification. A necessary report should be produced before the next date of hearing. The Registrar, Information Technology shall also apprise this Court about the mechanisam to stop contumatious litigants in participating in the live streaming proceedings, since it is also noticed by us that such disorderly and uncontrolled behavoious has become frequent."

It was reported that the litigant was seen sitting in a toilet and relieving himself during the ongoing proceedings. The infamous video tarnishing the image of the Court was widely circulated in social media, requires to be immediately banned and deleted.

The Court stated that as per Rule 5(j) of the Gujarat High Court (Live Streaming of Court Proceeding) Rules, 2021, anyone participating in the proceedings whether in person or through video conferencing will have to maintain utmost discipline and decorum for upholding the dignity and majesty of the Court.

"Any participant found to be misusing the access to the Court for undue publicity through live streaming facility may be muted or removed from video conference session or asked to leave the Court if participating in person," the Court further ordered.

The Petition was accordingly listed after a period of two weeks.

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Gujarat High CourtJustice AS Supehia

Sheetal Joon