Supreme Court takes suo motu case over attack on Senior Advocate, woman lawyer at district court

The Supreme Court today 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 Vikas Singh 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. Attorney General Mr R Venkataramani, Senior Advocates KK Venugopal and Jayant Bhushan jointly mentioned the matter before the apex court.

The bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud was told that the incident took place on March 20 wherein a junior lawyer snatched the band of Senior Advocate Bhatia. Another advocate 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 Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) condemned the incident and passed a resolution yesterday. Furthermore, the counsel for the Bar Council of India (BCI) also informed the bench that BCI is taking cognizance of the incident. Senior Advocate Bhatia and Advocate Gupta were physically present before the bench today during the mentioning.

The top court bench took immediate suo moto cognizance of the matter, issued notice to the President, Secretary of the Jan path Diwani Bar Association Gautam Budh Nagar. The Chief Justice in his order directed the District Judge of Gautam Budh Nagar to ensure the CCTV footage of the incident is in safe custody pending further orders. 

The bench also ordered the District Judge to submit a report of the incident to the bench and submit a report from the administrative staff regarding the manhandling faced by Advocate Muskan Gupta in Court 8 of the district court complex.

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

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