Lawyers 'assaulted': HC asks Lucknow police commissioner, district judge to file reports

Lawyers 'assaulted': HC asks Lucknow police commissioner, district judge to file reports

Lucknow, Taking a serious view of allegations that three Delhi-based lawyers and their client were assaulted and prevented from pursuing judicial proceedings inside the Lucknow district court premises, the Allahabad High Court has directed the district judge and the police commissioner to submit detailed reports by 10:15 am on Wednesday.

The Lucknow bench of the court issued the directions on Tuesday.

A special bench comprising Justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla was constituted on the directions of the chief justice at 7 pm on Tuesday to hear the matter urgently.

The court observed that if the allegations were found to be true, the incident would not merely amount to a criminal offence, but would constitute a grave interference with the administration of justice, which could not be tolerated.

The matter was brought before the court through an interim application filed by Delhi-based advocates Abhipsa Mohanty, Komal Agrawal and Ashutosh Srivastava. They have alleged that they went to the Lucknow district court to file a vakalatnama on behalf of their client, Mohammad Shakir, in a civil suit. Since the court concerned was vacant, the matter was transferred to another courtroom.

The applicants have alleged that advocate Saurabh Kumar Verma and some of his associates prevented them from appearing before the court and, upon their protest, assaulted, abused and threatened them.

They have further alleged that Shakir was severely beaten up and sustained bleeding injuries.

According to the application, the lawyers were warned that they would face consequences for appearing in a case against a fellow advocate and were forced to take shelter in a judge's chamber, before leaving through a staircase.

According to the application, the dispute arose from litigation concerning a property. It has further alleged that a similar assault had taken place on April 30, involving another plaintiff, but no effective police action followed.

During the hearing, the applicants produced a video clip of the alleged incident. After viewing it, the bench observed that, prima facie, it appears that the litigant was assaulted.

It also noted that complaints relating to obstruction of judicial work and attempts by certain advocates or persons posing as advocates to influence judicial proceedings in the Lucknow district court had surfaced in the past, leading to judicial directions and the formation of a special monitoring cell under the joint commissioner of police.

Appearing through video-conferencing, Lucknow Police Commissioner Amarendra Kumar Sengar informed the court that Shakir is undergoing a medical examination and that a complaint has also been received from the opposite side.

The district judge submitted that CCTV footage has been examined and some lawyers have been identified.

The high court directed the district judge to submit a report, along with the CCTV footage, and asked the police commissioner to furnish details of the incident, the criminal antecedents of the accused, if any, and the action taken so far.

The court also directed the DCP concerned, the officer-in-charge of the Wazirganj police station and the injured litigant to remain present during the next hearing. It further ordered that adequate security be provided to the Delhi-based advocates during the pendency of the proceedings.

The matter has been listed for further hearing at 10:15 am on Wednesday.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.