Gujarat High Court imposes ₹1 lakh fine on man who attended virtual hearing from washroom

Gujarat High Court has imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on a man, who attended a virtual court hearing from a toilet, during contempt of court proceedings.

A division bench of Justice A S Supehia and Justice R T Vacchani imposed the fine on Abdul Samad and directed him to deposit the amount by July 22.

The incident came to light after a video of Samad attending the virtual hearing from the washroom went viral on social media. Following this, the court registry submitted a report stating that on June 20, during a virtual hearing before Justice Nirzar Desai, Samad was seen attending the proceedings for 74 minutes while visibly sitting in the washroom.

Samad’s lawyer later requested the court for forgiveness, assuring that such a mistake would not be repeated. However, the high court decided to impose the fine to set an example, directing Samad to deposit ₹1 lakh with the court by July 22.

Incident details

During the virtual hearing of a quashing petition in the court, the complainant, Abdul Samad, was seen attending the case from the toilet while wearing a wireless Bluetooth headset. 

The hearing, live-streamed on the court’s official platform, showed Samad in a close-up shot, visibly sitting in the lavatory during the proceedings related to a complaint he had filed. 

The video quickly went viral on social media, sparking outrage and prompting the court to take action against Samad for contempt of court.