An old courtroom video showing a heated exchange between a lawyer and a judge has been circulated on social media with a misleading claim that it depicts a lawyer confronting Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant amid the ongoing agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
However, an investigation found that the video is from October 2025 and shows an incident involving advocate Mahesh Tiwari and Justice Rajesh Kumar of the Jharkhand High Court. The confrontation was unrelated to the ongoing protests against the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The video was shared on X on October 14 by an account using the username @pp73030711. The post appeared to link the courtroom exchange to the current agitation and suggested that it reflected growing public distrust in the judiciary.
As on October 15, the video had reportedly received 382,800 views.
What does the viral video claim?
In the viral clip, a lawyer is heard objecting to the manner in which a judge addressed him during court proceedings.
“Don’t try to humiliate any advocate. You know a lot because you are a judge and we are advocates? I will argue in my own way. Don’t cross the limit,” the lawyer says in the video.
The clip also contains the statement, “The country is burning with the judiciary,” which was used to suggest that the confrontation involved CJI Surya Kant.
The video circulated amid protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Some social media users appeared to connect the courtroom exchange with the Supreme Court’s role in the ongoing controversy.
However, the viral claim misidentified both the judge and the context of the incident.
How to trace the video?
According to reports, the investigation began with an analysis of the viral clip using the InVID verification tool. The team extracted keyframes from the video and conducted reverse-image searches using Google Lens.
The searches led to several social media posts carrying the same footage. The investigation also identified an NDTV report whose featured image closely matched a frame from the viral clip.
The report established that the confrontation had taken place on October 16, 2025, during proceedings before Justice Rajesh Kumar of the Jharkhand High Court.
This finding disproved the claim that the video showed a lawyer confronting CJI Surya Kant during the current agitation against the Election Commission.
What happened during the October 2025 hearing?
According to the NDTV report, advocate Mahesh Tiwari was representing a client seeking the restoration of an electricity connection.
Although the matter had concluded, a disagreement arose over the lawyer’s manner of arguing. Justice Rajesh Kumar reportedly asked the chairman of the Jharkhand State Bar Council to take cognisance of Tiwari’s conduct.
Tiwari then approached the Bench and responded that he would “argue in his own way”, adding, “Please mind that.”
The exchange escalated into a heated confrontation inside the courtroom, and the incident subsequently led to legal proceedings.
The video, therefore, was not connected to the protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar or any confrontation involving the current Chief Justice of India.
Jharkhand High Court initiated contempt proceedings
A Live Law report published on October 20, 2025, which provided further details about the aftermath of the incident.
According to the report, the Jharkhand High Court initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against Tiwari following his heated exchange with a single judge during court proceedings.
A five-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad, Rongon Mukhopadhyay, Ananda Sen and Rajesh Shankar heard the contempt case.
The proceedings subsequently continued before the High Court.
High Court dropped proceedings after unconditional apology
Further searches led to a February 2026 report by The Indian Express, which stated that the Jharkhand High Court had dropped the criminal contempt proceedings against Tiwari after accepting his unconditional apology.
The report said the court observed that an advocate with more than 40 years of professional experience was expected to exercise greater restraint.
Emphasising the dignity of judicial proceedings, the Bench noted that a thin but clearly defined line separates arrogance from forthrightness, and that an experienced lawyer should neither overlook nor cross it.
The development further confirms that the viral footage relates to a courtroom incident from 2025 and not to the ongoing agitation against the Election Commission.
Claim vs Fact
Claim: The video shows a lawyer confronting Chief Justice of India Surya Kant amid protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Fact: The video shows advocate Mahesh Tiwari in a heated exchange with Justice Rajesh Kumar of the Jharkhand High Court on October 16, 2025.
The footage is old and unrelated to the current protests. Its circulation with claims linking it to CJI Surya Kant is misleading.
The incident highlights how old videos can be recirculated during politically charged events with altered captions and misleading context. In this case, reverse-image searches and reports published around the original incident helped establish the footage’s actual origin.
