Police register case for obscenity against lawyer seen in compromising position with woman during Madras High Court virtual hearing

The Madras High Court on Thursday issued notice to advocate R Santhanakrishnan who was seen in a compromising position with a woman during court proceedings which were being held via video conference..A Bench of Justices PN Prakash and R Hemalatha was hearing a suo moto contempt case initiated by the Bench on December 21 after a video of the Santhanakrishnan canoodling with a woman while attending court proceedings before Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan, had gone viral on social media.The Court had, on Tuesday, ordered a police probe into the incident and also sought a preliminary report to be submitted before the Court.When the matter was taken up on Thursday, the Court was informed that as per the preliminary report filed by the Inspector of Police, Cyber Crime, the lawyer in the video of the incident had been identified as one RD Santhanakrishnan..The Bench was also told that a case had been registered against the lawyer for offences under Sections 228 (intentional insult or interruption to public servant sitting in judicial proceeding), 292(2)(a) (sale etc. of obscene books, etc.) and 294(a) (obscene acts) IPC and Section 67-A (publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act) of the Information Technology Act, 2008 and an investigation was under progress..The Court was presented with an action taken report signed by the Additional Commissioner of Police stating that pursuant to the Court’s previous order, communications were sent to various social media platforms to block the circulation of the incident’s video. Further, it was informed that the police were pursuing the matter with the concerned nodal officers..It was also stated that the identity of woman in the video has not been determined yet and steps were being taken in this regard.In light of these submissions, the Court deemed it appropriate to array Santhanakrishnan as the first respondent in the case and issued notice to him..The Court also directed the registry to place the CD containing the video of the incident before the Bench during all hearings..Advocate B Vijay was nominated as the High Court’s counsel in the matter. The case will be heard next on January 20, 2022.The Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Bar Council had earlier initiated disciplinary proceedings against Santhanakrishnan and also suspended him from practicing before courts and tribunals across the country till the disposal of the proceedings..[Read Order]