Gujarat HC Directs Cop Who Sipped A Drink During VC Hearing To Distribute Coca-Cola Cans Among Lawyers

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed a police officer who was sipping a drink during a VC Hearing to distribute 100 cans of a cold drink (coca-cola) to the Bar Association or face disciplinary action.

Essentially, Inspector A.M. Rathod was found sipping a beverage during the VC hearing when mentioning was going on before the bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J. Shastri.

Inspector Rathore was appearing before the Court for the online hearing of a case in which he has been accused of assaulting two women at a traffic junction.

Noticing him sipping a drink, Chief Justice Aravind Kumar called out AGP DM Devnani and asked him "is it the way in which an officer...if he was in court, would he have come with a coca-cola can?" To this, AGP Devnani tendered apology before the bench. The CJ said that the officer was seen drinking from a coca-cola can and he was not sure about the contents.

Referring to another incident of similar nature, the Chief Justice remarked thus:

"Infact one advocate was eating a samosa. We said that we have no objections if you eat samosa. But the only ground is, you cannot eat it in front of us, because others are also tempted. Either he should give it to everybody or he should not eat."

Further, the Court directed Inspector A.M. Rathod to distribute 100 cans of coca-cola to the bar association, otherwise, the court added, the Chief Secretary would be asked to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.

"We will not leave Rathod...Isko rathod ko chhodenge nahin...He will be in more trouble. Ask him to distribute it in Advocate General's office," Chief Justice Aravind Kumar said.

YouTube link of the proceedings (Watch from 04.40)