2-week jail for lawyer caught with staff during virtual trial

Chennai: The advocate who was caught on web camera in a compromising position with a woman staff during a virtual hearing session was sentenced to two weeks of simple imprisonment, on Tuesday. Awarding the sentence, the Madras High Court also directed him to pay a fine of Rs 6,000.

A division bench of Justice PN Prakash and Justice AA Nakkiran issued the orders on disposing of a suo-motu contempt petition initiated by the High Court against advocate RD Santhanakrishnan on December 21.

As he had already been under incarceration for 34 days, double as that of the term awarded, the court directed the authorities to release him after he surrendered before the police. The judges also appreciated the efforts made by the State public prosecutor and the CB-CID to complete the prosecution in a short period.

The court had initiated the contempt case after a video clip was widely circulated on social media showing the advocate in a compromising position with a woman during the VC proceedings. Later, the CB-CID booked the advocate under Sections 228, 292 (2) (a), and 294 (a) of IPC and Section 67-A of the IT Act, 2008. Later, he was enlarged on bail on February 2.

It may be noted that as per the recommendation of the court, he had recently agreed to pay Rs 4 lakh to the woman who was caught on camera with him.