LUCKNOW Taking seriously the 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 directed the district judge and police commissioner to submit detailed reports by 10:15 am on Wednesday.
The Lucknow bench issued the directions on Tuesday.
A special bench comprising Justices Rajan Roy and Manjeev Shukla was constituted on the directions of the Chief Justice at 7 pm on Tuesday to hear the matter urgently.
The court noted that if these allegations were found to be true, the incident would not amount to a mere criminal offence, but would constitute serious interference in the administration of justice, which could not be tolerated.
The matter came before the court through an interim application filed by Delhi-based lawyers Abhibsa Mohanty, Komal Agrawal and Ashutosh Srivastava. They claimed that they had gone to the Lucknow District Court to file a lawsuit on behalf of their client Mohammed Shakir in a civil suit. Since the court in question was vacant, the matter was transferred to another courtroom.
The applicants alleged that advocate Saurabh Kumar Verma and some of his associates prevented them from appearing in court and, when they protested, assaulted, ill-treated and threatened them.
They also claimed that Shaker was severely beaten and suffered bleeding injuries.
According to the request, the lawyers were warned that they would face consequences for appearing in a case against a fellow lawyer, and were forced to take shelter in the judge’s room, before leaving via the stairs.
According to the request, the dispute arose out of a lawsuit over a property. She further alleged that a similar assault had occurred on 30 April, involving another plaintiff, but that no effective police action had followed.
During the hearing, the applicants presented a video of the alleged incident. After reviewing it, the court noted that it appears, prima facie, that the plaintiff had been assaulted.
It also noted that complaints of obstruction of judicial work and attempts by some lawyers or persons posing as lawyers to influence judicial proceedings in the Lucknow District Court had surfaced in the past, leading to issuance of judicial directions and formation of a special monitoring cell under the Joint Commissioner of Police.
Lucknow Police Commissioner Amarendra Kumar Sengar, through video conference, informed the court that Shakir was undergoing a medical examination and that a complaint had also been received from the other side.
The district judge stated that CCTV footage was examined and some of the lawyers were identified.
The high court directed the district judge to submit a report, along with CCTV footage, and asked the police commissioner to provide details of the incident, the criminal antecedents of the accused, if any, and the action taken so far.
The court also ordered the concerned public prosecutor, the officer in charge of Wazirganj police station and the injured litigant to remain present during the next hearing. It also ordered that adequate security be provided to Delhi-based lawyers during the proceedings.
The matter was listed for further hearing at 10:15 am on Wednesday.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
