Lawyer appears in online bail hearing in vest, draws judge's ire

A Rajasthan High Court lawyer appeared in an online bail hearing in vest, drawing the ire of a judge.

Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma of the high court's Jaipur bench criticised the lawyer for not appearing in proper uniform during the hearing via video-conferencing on Friday.

Lawyer Ravindra Kumar Paliwal was appearing for accused Lalram, a Gurjar, according to the court order.

The judge wanted to dismiss the bail plea, but later accepted the public prosecutor's request to not punish the accused for aberration on part of the defence lawyer and postponed the hearing to May 5.

In view of the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Rajasthan High Court has been hearing urgent matters online using the 'Jitsi Meet' application.

"This court has already observed that during this pandemic where court functioning is being done through video conferencing, lawyers must appear in proper uniform... keeping in view that the petitioner's counsel was not in proper uniform, the matter is adjourned," the court said.

The high court has issued a notification asking lawyers to appear for hearing in uniform after a similar incident earlier this month.