Supreme Court Takes Suo Motu Case Over Attack On Sr Adv Gaurav Bhatia & Woman Lawyer By Striking Advocates At District Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 21) took a suo motu case over the attacks on Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia and Advocate Muskan Gupta at the District Court, Guatam Budh Nagar by lawyers during a strike by the District Court Advocates.

Senior Advocate Mr Vikas Singh today (March 21) made an urgent mentioning regarding the issue of manhandling and ill-treatment of Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia by junior lawyers in the District Court of Gautam Budh Nagar during a local lawyers strike. The mentioning was jointly made by Attorney General Mr R Venkataramani, Senior Advocates Mr KK Venugopal, Mr Jayant Bhushan. 

The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud was informed that the incident took place yesterday (March 20) wherein a junior lawyer snatched the band of Mr Bhatia. Another advocate, Ms Muskan Gupta who was asked to take an adjournment in Court 8 of the District Court complex was asked to remove her band and leave the Courtroom by a group of lawyers and was manhandled in the process. 

Condemning such behaviour, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) passed a resolution yesterday. The counsel for the Bar Council of India (BCI) also informed the bench that BCI is taking cognizance of the incident. Mr Bhatia and Ms Gupta were physically present before the bench today during the mentioning. 

The bench taking immediate sou-moto cognizance of the matter, issued notice to the President, Secretary of the Jan path Diwani Bar Association Gautam Budh Nagar. The CJI in his order directed  (1) the District Judge (DJ) of Gautam Budh Nagar to ensure the CCTV footage of the incident is in safe custody pending further orders; (2) The District Judge shall submit a report of the incident to the bench; (3) submit a report from the administrative staff regarding the manhandling faced by Muskan Gupta in Court 8 of the District Court complex. 

The bench noted that repeated judgments of the Supreme Court have deprecated strikes by advocates since the litigants are affected.

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