Gujarat High Court Initiates Suo Motu Contempt Against Man Captured On VC Seated On Toilet Seat
The Gujarat Excessive Court docket has initiated suo-motu contempt case in opposition to a person who was captured seated on a toilet seat throughout the court docket’s on-line proceedings final month.
In doing so the court docket noticed that the “notorious video tarnishing the picture of this Court docket” was broadly circulated in social media and requires to be “instantly banned and deleted”.
The court docket, which in its order took “severe observe” of a June 28 news report on the incident, additional directed the excessive court docket’s Registrar, Info Expertise to tell on the mechanism to cease contumacious litigants in taking part in live-streaming proceedings observing that such uncontrolled behaviour had grow to be frequent.
A division bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice R.T. Vachhani in its June 30 order stated:
“Accordingly, Registry is directed to register suo motu contempt proceedings in opposition to the one who is seen within the video upon applicable verification. A mandatory report ought to be produced earlier than the subsequent date of listening to. The Registrar, Info Expertise shall additionally apprise this Court docket in regards to the mechanism to cease contumacious litigants in taking part within the dwell streaming proceedings, since it is usually observed by us that such disorderly and uncontrolled behaviour has grow to be frequent”.
The purported incident befell whereas Justice Nirzar S Desai was listening to a case searching for quashing of an FIR for offence of cheque bouncing on June 20 (at gadgets 64-65). The video of the proceedings obtainable on YouTube, thereafter reveals the person getting up and shifting out of the toilet; he’s subsequently seen sitting in one other room.
The division bench stated that Rule 5(j) of the Gujarat Excessive Court docket (Stay Streaming of Court docket Proceedings) Guidelines, 2021 that mandates anybody who participates within the proceedings whether or not in individual or by means of video convention to “preserve utmost self-discipline and decorum for upholding the dignity and majesty of the Court docket”. It famous that any participant discovered misusing the entry to the Court docket for “undue publicity” by the way in which of dwell streaming facility could also be muted or eliminated type the digital listening to or requested to go away the court docket if current in individual.
The Court docket additional stipulated, that if the scenario requires the presiding Choose could direct “to cease the dwell streaming” of the proceedings or the actual case for the day.
“Such an occasion will likely be famous by the aiding personnel for the Court docket within the Register. Additional, as per Sub-Rule (l) , it empowers the Court docket to provoke proceedings below the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and the opposite relevant penal legal guidelines if any of the violation of the aforementioned Guidelines is observed by the Court docket,” the order states.
The bench directed the registry to, after registering the contempt proceedings, challenge discover to the contemnor as to why he shouldn’t be prosecuted and punished for committing Contempt of Court docket.
The Court docket then listed the suo motu proceedings after two weeks.
Case Title: Suo Motu vs Samad Abdul Rehman Shah
Case Quantity: Cr.MA No. 12821 of 2025
