Aastha Thakur
Published on: 11 October 2022 at 21:24 IST
The Bombay High Court recently fined attorneys who attached offensive photos to a writ petition they submitted at a cost of ₹ 25,000 each.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and SM Modak stated that the concerned attorneys were unaware that petitions are filed with the registry and distributed among several departments, violating the parties’ privacy, after finding such obscene pictures.
The 2-page order release states, “No sense of proportion or discretion is exercised by the learned Counsel whilst annexing the said photographs. Advocates fail to realize that these petitions are filed/placed before the Registry and get circulated through various departments, exposing the parties involved in the photographs,”
The Court further stated that it expects all attorneys to use judgement when annexing photos that are very offensive because they violate the parties’ privacy. The attorney was instructed to take the photos out of the petition and any copies that were delivered to other parties.
It states that, “We expect, all lawyers/advocates to exercise some discretion and proportion whilst annexing the photographs which are highly objectionable.”
“Annexing such photographs certainly invades upon the privacy of the parties and as such, we direct the counsel for the petitioner, to forthwith remove the said photographs,”
The ruling was made following the filing of a writ petition by the accused’s wife, who was attempting to have the First Information Report and chargesheet against her husband, who had been arrested for allegedly committing rape, quashed.
The Bench fined the petitioners’ attorneys $25,000 for their behaviour and instructed them to deposit the money with the Kirtikar Law Library, which is housed on the second floor of the High Court building.
The counsel representing petitioner were Advocates Anand Pandey and Ramesh Tripathi.
The Assistant Public Prosecutor JP Yagnik appeared for Respondent-State