The Supreme Court has accepted the apology of an advocate who had appeared in virtual court hearing of his case while lying on his bed and wearing a t-shirt.

A single Bench of Justice Ravindra Bhat accepted the unconditional apology of the advocate, after he accepted that it was inappropriate gesture on his part to have appeared before the Court.

While accepting his apology, a single Bench comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat stressed on the importance of advocates appearing before the Court in a “presentable” manner.

The Bench, while accepting the apology stated that when counsel appears in court video hearings, they should be presentable and avoid showing images, which are not appropriate and can only be tolerable in the privacy of their homes.

The Court also noted that even though everyone is passing through trying times and hearings by virtual courts has become and order of the day, minimum court etiquette in terms of what can be considered decent dress, background, etc. should still be followed, given the public nature of hearings.

The incident took place while a single-judge Bench of Justice Ravindra Bhat was hearing a transfer petition requesting transfer of the case pending before the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Principal Judge Family Court, Rewari, Haryana to the competent court or Family Judge at Jehanabad, Bihar. The petition was allowed, directing the transferor court to transmit the record of the case to the transferee court.

-India Legal Bureau