Gujarat High Court orders community service for Surat man who attended proceedings from toilet seat

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Tuesday ordered the Surat man, who was found virtually attending court proceeding from toilet seat, to do fifteen days of community service as a punishment.

The court held him guilty of criminal contempt and ordered him to do community service while holding that he was not sent to prison as he had tendered an unconditional apology and deposited Rs1 lakh. The money, the court ordered, will be deposited with the legal service authority.

The division bench of justice A S Supehia and VT R T Vachhani ordered Abdul Samad, a resident of Surat, to do community service daily for two hours for fifteen days at Mamta Mansik Swasthya Kendra, a center for mentally challenged, in Surat.

The bench stated that he had tendered unconditional apology and stated in an affidavit that he realised his mistake and was ashamed of his conduct.

The bench held that "the act, indubitably, lowers the majesty and sanctity of this court. The offending act committed by the contemnor though inadvertently, is of such high degree that it can't be ignored. We are of the opinion that proof of mens rea is excluded by such conduct. No defence is available to contemner that such nature of the act which lowers down the majesty of the court only for reason that he had no mens rea to commit the act."

The court observed that no defence was available to the contemner to plead that such a nature of the act, which lowers down the majesty of the court, can be ignored simply because he didn't have intention.

The court orally stated that it viewed that action of the contemner was equal to dragging the court to a place like the toilet. "The sanctity of the court, the majesty of the court is absolutely obliterated...this is very serious."

Similarly, the bench closed criminal contempt case against senior advocate Bhaskar Tanna who was seen drinking from a beer mug in the virtual proceeding. The court accepted his unconditional apology after he assured that "such an act will not be committed in the future."