Gujarat High Court Virtual Proceeding Video: A senior advocate was caught drinking beer during a virtual hearing before the Gujarat High Court. The incident reportedly took place on June 25 during an online hearing before Justice Sandeep Bhatt. Senior advocate Bhaskar Tanna joined the hearing virtually. Tanna appeared unaware that his camera was on and that the hearing was live. He was seen drinking beer from a mug and speaking on the phone while the proceedings were in progress. The video clip of the session was recorded and later went viral on social media.
Taking serious note of the conduct, a division bench of Justices A S Supehia and R T Vachhani directed the registry to file a report and begin contempt proceedings. The court called the behaviour of the senior advocate “outrageous and glaring” and said it could not be overlooked. “We direct the registry to initiate suo motu contempt of court proceedings against senior counsel Bhaskar Tanna. The registry will submit a report before the next date of hearing,” the bench said.
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The bench also said that such actions, if ignored or disregarded, would be “destructive to the rule of law.” It ordered that Tanna be barred from making further virtual appearances in the ongoing matter.
The video of Tanna drinking from a beer mug and speaking on his phone during a high court hearing has triggered concerns about discipline in virtual courtrooms. This is the second recent case at the Gujarat High Court raising questions over the decorum of online hearings. Earlier, another video went viral showing a man attending a hearing while sitting on a toilet.
According to the reports, the contempt matter against Tanna has been scheduled for hearing after two weeks.