Allahabad High Court Registers Suo Motu PIL Over Alleged Assault On 3 Lawyers At Lucknow District Court

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday converted into a separate suo motu Public Interest Litigation PIL the matter concerning the alleged assault on three Delhi-based advocates, including two women lawyers, and their client inside the Lucknow District Court premises (on Tuesday).

The Court observed that the issue should no longer remain an interlocutory application IA in a pending criminal writ petition.

A Bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla took the decision after considering the report of the District Judge, Lucknow, the report of the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, the FIR lodged against the advocates against whom allegations have been made in the application, the video clip produced by the applicants and the CCTV footage produced by the District Judge.

After hearing all parties, the Bench held that the matter ought to be registered as a separate PIL. It has reserved orders on the interim directions.

For the uninitiated, the matter had come up before the Lucknow Bench in a special sitting at 7 PM on Tuesday on an application moved by Delhi-based advocates Abhipsa Mohanty, Komal Agarwal and Ashutosh Srivastava, who alleged that they were assaulted and prevented from appearing in a civil suit by Advocate Saurabh Kumar Verma and his associates inside the Lucknow District Court on July 21.

According to the application, the advocates had gone to file a vakalatnama in a civil suit when they were allegedly prevented from appearing by Advocate Saurabh Kumar Verma and his associates.

The applicants alleged that not only were they manhandled but their client Mohd Shakir was also badly beaten up and threatened by saying "vakil ke against case karega tu" (you will file a case against an advocate).

They further alleged that when they attempted to protect their client, they too were assaulted. One of the applicants, Advocate Ashutosh Srivastava, alleged that he was punched in the stomach and chest while trying to protect the client.

The application further alleged that Advocate Verma threatened them by saying "tum mere against kaise case le liye" (How dare you take up a case against me) and "tum isme mat pado, warna acha nahi hoga" (Stay out of this, or it won't end well for you, while all the applicants were abused and humiliated).

The applicants further claimed that when they attempted to bring the incident to the notice of the District Judge, Advocate Verma allegedly started shouting at them and exhorted his women associates to assault them.

The special hearing had been convened after one of the two women advocate-applicants urgently mentioned the matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant earlier on Tuesday, alleging that she and her client had been assaulted inside the Lucknow District Court and that a Bar Association officebearer was preventing them from appearing in the matter.

The CJI had stated that he would convey the matter to Justice Rajan Roy, the seniormost Judge of the Lucknow Bench. Later that evening, the special Bench was constituted and assembled at 7 PM.

During Tuesday's hearing, a video of the incident was played before the Bench, which noted that it prima facie showed some advocates, including those named in the application, assaulting a person identified by the applicants as plaintiff Mohd Shakir.

Observing that the allegations, if true, disclosed a very serious matter involving interference with the administration of justice, the Court had directed the District Judge to submit a report along with the CCTV footage and the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, to submit a report specifying the criminal antecedents of the alleged perpetrators.

The Court had also directed the personal appearance of the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police and the Station House Officer of Wazirganj Police Station besides directing that adequate security be provided to the advocate-applicants and that Mohd Shakir be produced before the Court.

When the matter was taken up on Wednesday, the Bench heard the advocate applicants, the State authorities' counsel appearing for the CBI counsel for Advocate Saurabh Kumar Verma, as well as the President and Secretary of the Central Bar Association.

It also took on record the District Judge's report and a sealed pen drive containing the CCTV footage.

After examining the material placed before it, the Bench observed that instead of treating the proceedings as an interlocutory application in the pending Criminal Writ PIL No of 2023, it would be appropriate to register a separate Public Interest Litigation titled "Suo Motu Cognizance of the incident in District Court Lucknow dated 21/07/2026"

The Court directed that the newly registered suo motu PIL be connected with the batch of pending writ petitions, with Criminal Writ PIL No 8810 of 2023 remaining the leading case.

The Bench has reserved its order on the interim directions.