Two days after a video of a Gujarat High Court judge snapping at a female colleague on the bench in an open court went viral, he has apologised to her over the episode.
Justice Biren Vaishnav, a senior judge of the Gujarat High Court, had a disagreement with his colleague, puisne judge Justice Mauna Bhatt, on Monday, which ended in a heated exchange of words.
"What happened on Monday shouldn't have happened. I was wrong. I am sorry for that. We begin a new session. It shouldn't have happened. It's just that I don’t know…I was wrong,” he said as soon as the session began today, in the presence of Justice Mauna Bhatt who is part of the division bench.
The court was closed on Tuesday on account of Dussehra.
The video of the Monday session of the division bench of Justices Vaishnav and Bhatt was pulled down from the official YouTube page of the Gujarat High Court, but that could not stop it from circulating on social media platforms. A purported video of the incident showed Justice Bhatt murmuring something to Justice Vaishnav when he was passing the order, seemingly registering her disagreement.
Upon this, Justice Vaishnav snapped, "Then you differ...We have differed in one matter, we can differ in the other also." Justice Bhatt then said, "It is not a question about differing."
"Then do not murmur, you pass a separate order. We are not taking other matters," Justice Vaishnav responded. After this, he rose and left the courtroom.
