• Source:JND
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The Gujarat High Court has initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against a senior advocate after a clip of a virtual court proceeding went viral on social media, in which he was seen sipping beer. The court termed his conduct "outrageous and glaring".

A division bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice R.T. Vachhani stated that Bhaskar Tanna's senior counsel title should be withdrawn owing to his conduct, but decided to take further action after hearing the case.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 took place before a bench of Justice Sandeep Bhatt on June 25. Soon after that, the video started making the rounds on social media.

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While ordering contempt proceeding, Justice Supehia said, "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".

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.

The court issued notice to Tanna and denied him permission to attend the further case proceedings virtually. "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 As per our opinion, his title should be withdrawn; however, that will be decided at a later stage," Justice Supehia stated.

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The court will hear the contempt proceeding against Tanna after two weeks. The incident comes just days after a shocking video of a man attending the Gujarat High Court proceedings virtually by sitting on a toilet seat went viral.