“Most Unfortunate Incident”: Rajasthan High Court Calls For Inquiry, Soft-Skills Training After SHO Misbehaves With Lawyers

While hearing a matter of police officers misbehaving with and mishandling a lawyer who was accompanying a rape victim at the police station, Rajasthan High Court observed that the advocates and police personnel are two limbs of justice delivery system who must act in tandem with each other with mutual respect and cooperation.The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Baljinder Singh Sandhu opined that the police officials are required to be given soft skill training and noted that it was expected from the Commissionerate that this aspect shall be informed to the police academy where police officers are trained. As per local dailies, the lawyer along with his lawyer wife had gone to the police station along with the rape victim. A person in civil clothes was recording the statement of the prosecutrix without following due process. The lawyer complained about this to the SHO who instead of redressing the issue, started misbehaving with and mishandling the lawyer, restraining him to a room. The incident was caught on camera, and the video went viral.The Court had summoned the Commissioner of Police as well as the Deputy Commissioner. During the hearing, the Commissioner assured the Court of conducting an inquiry in the matter, and if required, also initiating a departmental proceedings against the concerned SHO and other officials. The Court then directed that the incident should reach a logical conclusion, and the Commissioner was directed to present a report of further departmental action taken against the concerned officials, on the next date of hearing. The Court observed, “While the police is required to work in difficult situations and has to sometime act strongly with the accused, the same cannot be expected from them when they are dealing with the lawyers. Similarly, lawyers are also expected to deal with the police personnel in a soft manner and with a polite attitude. The present incident which has been brought to our knowledge reflects lack of coordination between the two wings of administration of justice”. Furthermore, reference was made to the case of Bharat Yadav v State of Rajasthan in which similar incident had occurred and the Court had suggested constitution of Coordination Committee at each district level. The Court highlighted that despite those observation in 2019, the Coordination Committee was not actively performing its work. In this background, it was directed that the Coordination Committee at each district shall be formed afresh and details of the same shall shared on the next date. The matter has been listed for December 8, 2025. Title: Rajasthan High Court Advocates' Association & Anr. v State of Rajasthan & Anr. Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 404Click Here To Read Order

“Most Unfortunate Incident”: Rajasthan High Court Calls For Inquiry, Soft-Skills Training After SHO Misbehaves With Lawyers

Nupur Agarwal

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