Karnataka High Court drops proceedings against man who appeared semi-nude during virtual hearing

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday dropped proceedings initiated against a man who had appeared semi-nude during a virtual hearing in the case related to the Ramesh Jarkiholi sex scandal..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj closed the proceedings after the man tendered an unconditional apology. Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who had complained about the infraction, did not object to closing the matter..During a previous hearing in the Ramesh Jarkiholi sex scandal case, the man had allegedly appeared semi-naked on screen. The High Court had then issued notice to him.Jaising had later said that she would file a contempt of court case and a sexual harassment complaint against the man. "I confirm that a semi-naked man was visible on the screen for a full 20 minutes despite my objection. I am making an official complaint for contempt of court and sexual harassment. It’s extremely disturbing in the middle of an argument in court," she had tweeted. .On Thursday, when the man tendered his apology, the Bench asked Jaising whether she wished to proceed against him. Jaising submitted that she had no objection to dropping the case against him, as it could have been a general error.The Bench then proceeded to pass an order noting that the man had submitted that his act was unintentional and that he was extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to all the participants. "Considering the unconditional apology, proceedings would be dropped against him with the observation that he should be careful in the future," the Court said. .Meanwhile, in the main matter relating to the Ramesh Jarkiholi sex scandal, the Karnataka High Court allowed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the State to submit its report to the competent court..[Ramesh Jarkiholi sex scandal] Karnataka HC unhappy after SIT Head says he is not willing to re-examine investigation carried out in his absence