Hooliganism & Violence Has No Place In The Bar: BCI Asks All Delhi Bar Associations To Withdraw Abstinence Of Work & Cease Violence

Taking a stern view of the violence spread across the district courts in Delhi and the continued abstinence from court work, the Bar Council of India asked the leaders of all the Bar Associations to recall the resolution for abstinence from work and to restore peace in the court premises. In a letter addressed to the Coordination Committee of the Bar Associations of Delhi and to all the District Bar Associations of Delhi, the BCI said, "we again request you…to recall the resolution passed yesterday and resume the court work from today itself… Yes, if the peace and harmony is not restore and resolution (to abstain from work) is not recalled, then we will have no option but to withdraw from this episode. We will neither participate in enquiry nor we will be in a position to defend anyone inside or outside court." The BCI had yesterday requested all the lawyers to maintain peace and harmony in courts. Nonetheless, incidents of violence against policemen and general public have been reported. "Incidents of beating the policemen on the bike by some of Saket lawyers, assault of an auto driver, manhandling general public (which are being highlighted in news and media) are most unfortunate and Bar Council of India is not going to tolerate it. These are acts of grave misconduct," the letter read. Condemning these incidents in light of the favourable decision passed by the Delhi High Court on a special sitting held on Sunday, the BCI said, "we must be obliged to High Court that it came to our rescue quickly. Suo moto cognizance was taken and all of your demands were accepted. You can't even imagine of such substantial reliefs being granted in such a short time. Whatever you wanted, you got. xxx But instead of being obliged to our Judiciary/High Court, we are showing our disrespect to it. Most unfortunate!" The suo moto hearing held on Sunday, November 3, was prompted by a scuffle which broke out between the police officials and lawyers at the Tis Hazari Court on Saturday over a parking dispute within the court premises. The incident was aggravated as two lawyers got shot by the police and several others injured in the lathi charge. After hearing the matter, the high court ordered a judicial inquiry into the mishap, to be headed by Justice SP Garg, former judge of the Delhi High Court, with the assistance of CBI, Vigilance and IB, and to be concluded within six weeks. Further, the court directed suspension of two erring police officials and transfer of two senior police officials. Appreciating the Delhi High Court for its prompt response, the BCI said, "what we want to say is that for the first time in the history of Judiciary of our Country, the High Court (that too a High Court like Delhi High Court) sat on Sunday and passed such an unprecedented order in favour of Advocates. We should not forget this obligation of the court. All the leaders of the Bar were respectfully invited by the registry, it was a historic move. We see the importance of this move/order for future… Therefore, we shouldn't do anything which could result in recall of such order." The BCI went on to cite the examples of beating of lawyers in West Bengal, which went unaddressed by any court despite the strikes and protests held by the lawyers there and said that the Delhi Bar Associations should be thankful for the support extended by the Delhi High Court. Speaking from the legal touch stone of the matter, the BCI clarified that the police had no authority to effect any arrests related to this matter and thus the Bar Associations should cease form becoming a subject of mockery by using force against the Police. It said, "Legally, police has no authority to arrest even any police personnel or take any action in this matter till the conclusion of enquiry. Police is functious-officio. Therefore, the resolution of Coordination Committee (that police officials or personnel should be arrested first) is now meaningless and has no legal basis. We are to think this important aspect from legal point of view, so that we may not be laughing stock before the Society." The BCI also asked the Advocates to not aggravate the matter thinking that the same would be beneficial to them in the Bar elections. It questioned that those candidates who would be found guilty by the investigating agencies of spreading violence, "do you think they would be allowed to contest any election or they would be in a position to contest any election." Stating that the Police force was preparing to file a review of the order dated November 3 and that actions of hooliganism and violence on part of Advocates, which was being circulated by media and captured in CCTVs, would only make their case easy, the BCI said, "our humble request to all of you would be to collect best evidence/materials, find out material witnesses to prove our case of police firing, atrocities and...

Hooliganism & Violence Has No Place In The Bar: BCI Asks All Delhi Bar Associations To Withdraw Abstinence Of Work & Cease Violence

Akshita Saxena

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