Gujarat High Court initiates action against lawyer for attending virtual hearing with beer mug  

Appalled by a senior counsel sipping from a beer mug and talking on the phone while virtually attending a hearing, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against him for the "outrageous and glaring" conduct.

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A division bench of Justice AS Supehia and Justice RT Vachhani stated that Bhaskar Tanna's senior counsel title should be withdrawn owing to his conduct but decided to take further action after hearing the case.

The incident occurred before a bench of Justice Sandeep Bhatt on June 25 and a video clip was circulated on social media thereafter.

"A video clip of high court proceedings widely circulated in social media shows his contemptuous behaviour of talking on the phone and also having a drink in a beer mug while attending the hearing," Justice Supehia stated.

This "outrageous and glaring" act of Tanna has very wide ramifications, and if ignored or disregarded, it will be destructive to the rule of law, the court stated.

"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," it said.

In a legal context, "suo motu" refers to a court or other authority taking action on its own, without being formally requested or petitioned by another party.

The high court directed (the registry) to issue a notice to Tanna and barred him from appearing virtually before the bench.

"The demeanour of Tanna defies the privilege of senior counsel conferred upon him by the court. As per our opinion, his title should be withdrawn; however, that will be decided at a later stage," Justice Supehia stated.

The contempt proceedings will be heard after two weeks.

Another shocking video clip had gone viral a week ago showing a man attending proceedings of the Gujarat High Court virtually by sitting on a toilet seat.