HC grants conditional bail to advocate who misbehaved during virtual court proceedings

The Madras High Court had granted conditional bail to an advocate who was caught in the camera for indulging in an unsavoury act with a female office assistant while the virtual court proceedings were on.

Justice R Pongiappan granted the interim-relief to the advocate named RD Santhanakrishnan on hearing the bail application moved by the lawyer.

“The petitioner is in incarceration from 21.01.2022 and thereby, he is in judicial custody for more than a month. He is prohibited to practice as an advocate. Therefore, taking note of the above-said aspects into consideration, particularly considering the period of incarceration, this court is inclined to grant bail to the petitioner subject to certain conditions,” the judge held.

The court also noted that the question of tampering with the evidence cannot be arising. “The witnesses, who are all necessary for completing the trial, are all working in this Court and therefore, tampering with witnesses, is also not possible,” Justice Pongiappan ruled.

The petitioner submitted that he was unaware of the fact that his laptop was running and was connected to the HCs’ virtual court website.

However, the judge said that whether the petitioner is having any intention to commit this offence or not, is a matter for trial.

He further granted the bail on the condition that the petitioner should appear before the police by 10 am every day.

On 21.01.2022, the advocate was arrested by the CB-CID police and he was sent to remand for misbehaving with a woman during the virtual court proceedings. The court had initiated a suo-motu cognizance against the advocate. Police booked him under sections 228, 292(2)(a), 294(a), 354A, 370(2) of IPC and Section 4 of Tamilnadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act, 1998 and 67A of Information Technology Act, 2000.