JUDGES SHOCKED AS SC LAWYER APPEARS SHIRTLESS IN HEARING

NEW DELHI: A lawyer on Tuesday appeared at a virtual hearing before a Supreme Court bench without his shirt on, prompting the surprised justices to bemoan the lack of decorum, and India’s second most senior law officer to describe the incident as “unpardonable”.

The image of the lawyer, Suvidutt, an advocate on record who was appearing for website OpIndia in a public interest limitation matter involving news channel Sudarshan TV, flashed for a few seconds when the hearing began on Monday before a bench of justices DY Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee.

Surprised by his appearance, justice Chandrachud asked: “Who is this lawyer?”

The lawyer appeared to realise his mistake, and put on a shirt, but logged out soon after without offering an explanation to the bench. Justice Chandrachud told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing in the case for the Union government, that it was important that caution be exercised when coming before the court. “I am not one who takes action against lawyers but this is a Court for all purposes. Some decorum has to be maintained by lawyers while appearing before us. Caution must be taken in future,” justice Chandrachud said.Mehta described the episode as “unpardonable”. When contacted, Suvidutt declined to comment. He wrote to Solicitor General offering an explanation f or his conduct and expressed a sincere apology

Advocate Shivaji Jadhav, president of the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association, said no complaint was sent to them in this regard.