Assault Of SC Lawyers At District Court : Supreme Court Issues Notice To UP Govt Over Non-Functioning Of CCTVs At Court Premises

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 1), while hearing the suo moto case over the assault on two members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at Gautam Budh Nagar District Court during a lawyers' strike, took serious note of the fact that the CCTV cameras at the Court complex were not functioning on that day.

The Court issued notice to the State of Uttar Pradesh on the issue of non-functioning CCTV cameras in the District Courts. 

The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud noted that the report submitted by the District Judge of District Court, Gautam Budh Nagar regarding the incident of assault mentioned that the CCTV footage could not be retrieved as the CCTV cameras in the District Court were not functioning. The Judge, in his report also highlighted that despite several representations being made to the state government, no steps have been taken in this regard. The incident pertained to the assault of Senior Advocate Mr Gaurav Bhatia and Advocate Ms Muskan Gupta on March 20 by the members of the District Bar Association who were protesting.

"He says in his report that I cannot produce the CCTV footage, because there was no maintenance by the Government of the Court CCTV cameras. The High Court has written repeated letters to the administration to provide sanctioned funds and budget, but the budget doesn't come therefore all the CCTV cameras are not functional", observed the CJI.

When the matter was taken, Senior Advocate Dr Adish C Aggarwala, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, submitted that he has spoken to the members of the District Bar Association and that they have now expressed remorse over the incident. He therefore requested the Court to take a lenient view.

However, the CJI expressed serious concerns about the nature of the strike and the conduct of the lawyers under the garb of a 'strike'. The Court seemed displeased with the protesting lawyers asking the district judge to stop his work. 

" Even if they apologise, we are not going to take it lightly because this...entering the court asking the judge to desist from judicial work and saying that we are going on a strike and so do not do judicial work...we are going to take a serious view of this, because no lawyer can enter a court and ask other lawyers to leave the court on the ground of a strike. We will take it very seriously...protest is not strike, protest is certainly a lawful form of protest so as long as people are not prevented from entering the court to argue."  

The bench further directed that the report be circulated to the counsels of the parties concerned herein, including Senior Advocate Mr Adish Aggarwal appearing on behalf of the SCBA, as well as the counsel for the Bar Council of India. 

The hearing will now take place next Monday. 

It may be noted that last year, the Supreme Court had issued a slew of directions for enhancing security in court premises, which included measures regarding installation of CCTVs.

Background 

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

Senior Advocate Mr Vikas Singh on 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 on 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. 

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. 

Case Details : IN RE: ASSAULT ON TWO MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT BAR ASSOCIATION AT DISTRICT COURT COMPLEX, GAUTAM BUDH NAGAR 

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