A day after a judge from the Gujarat High Court apologized for his outburst towards his female colleague on the bench, The Indian Express has learned that the High Court has requested YouTube to remove videos of the apology due to copyright violation.

On October 23, Justice Biren Vaishnav, the fourth most senior judge of the High Court, scolded his colleague, Justice Mauna Bhatt, for expressing a different opinion in a group of tax cases.

The incident was captured on video and widely circulated on social media as the Gujarat HC live-streams its proceedings. The High Court has since removed the video from its archives.

Although Justice Vaishnav’s apology on October 25 remains on the HC website, the High Court has instructed YouTube to delete videos of the apology.

An official from the Gujarat HC registry confirmed that such notices were sent out. Following YouTube’s response, several websites removed the video citing a copyright claim by the Gujarat High Court.

The Gujarat HC was the first High Court to live-stream its proceedings during the Covid pandemic in 2020.

The altercation between the judges was regarding income tax cases where the department had issued notices for reassessment over the past six years.

Justice Vaishnav allowed tax officials to proceed with reassessment, with the condition that the final assessment order must have prior permission from the Court. Justice Bhatt appeared to disagree.

Justice Vaishnav interrupted her and requested a separate differing order. He then walked away, stating that the bench would not hear any other matters for the day.

On October 25, before the day’s hearings began, Justice Vaishnav apologized for his behavior, acknowledging that it was wrong and expressing regret.