Old Clip of MP High Court Viral With Lawyer Being Misidentified as ‘Ghiyasuddin'

We identified the advocate as one 'Gudda Singh Uddey', who had represented the petitioners.

Fact-Check | The lawyer in the viral video is being misidentified as one 'Ghiyasuddin'. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a judge reprimanding a lawyer inside a courtroom and threatening to issue a contempt notice is being shared on the internet as a recent incident.

What's the claim?: Those sharing the video have claimed that the lawyer was named 'Ghiyasuddin', who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in 'Jabalpur High Court' to ban the recitation of self-styled godman, Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(More archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What is the truth?: While the PIL was indeed filed against the recitation by Sarkar in Balaghat, the lawyer for the petitioners was actually identified as one 'Gudda Singh Uddey'. This makes the claim misleading.

How did we find that out?: We noticed that the name of the justice was mentioned in the viral video. Using that as a hint, we performed a keyword search on YouTube using the words "justice vivek agarwal issues contempt notice to lawyer."

• This directed us to the longer version of the viral video published on the official channel of 'Navbharat Times'.

• The video was uploaded on 23 May 2023 and its title when translated to English said, "In the debate against Bageshwar Dham Dhirendra Shastri, Justice Vivek Agarwal told the lawyer – I will send you to jail."

• One can see in the clip that when justice Agarwal enquired about the lawyer's name, he replied by saying 'GS Uddey' ( 2:46 timestamp).

What did the MP High Court website show?: On going through the list of 'senior advocates' available on the official website of Madhya Pradesh High Court, we found the full name of the lawyer.

• He was identified as 'Shri Gudda Singh Uddey'.

These details were available on the MP High Court website.

(Source: MP High Court website/Screenshot)

Details of the judgment: Team WebQoof, with the help of details mentioned above, accessed the final order of the MP High Court that was given on 22 May 2023.

• The document, too, mentioned the name of the advocate from the petitioner's side as one 'GS Uddey'.

• The petition was filed against a Kathawachan, which the petitioners argued would be in conflict with the traditions and belief of the tribal community worshiping 'Badadev Bhagwan'.

• The judgment mentioned that the counsel had lost his cool during the argument and could not answer the queries of the court.

The name of the advocate for the petitioner's side could be seen in the screenshot.

(Source: MP High Court website/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

News reports: As per a report in ETV Bharat, the MP High Court had rejected a petition that sought orders against the recitation of 'Ram Katha' by Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.

• The petitioners wanted the venue to be relocated as it was being held in the place of worship of 'Bada Dev' and was hurting the sentiments of the tribal community.

The report was published on 24 May 2023.

(Source: ETV Bharat/Screenshot)

Conclusion: It is clear that an old video is being shared with users misidentifying the advocate as one 'Ghiyasuddin'.

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