Allahabad HC issues criminal contempt notice to 10 advocates for 'assaulting' litigants

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Taking a serious note of assault of litigants at the district court here, the Allahabad High Court has issued criminal contempt notice to ten advocates and also restrained them from entering the district court premises. The high court's notice came after the district judge submitted the report in the case.

On April 30, the high court had restrained two lawyers from entering the district court premises for their alleged involvement in the same incident. Some advocates on April 29 entered the senior division court located on the district court premises and allegedly beat up a litigant. Passing its order on Monday, a division bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Mohd Azhar Husain Idrisi observed, "The incident in this case has to be viewed with utmost seriousness.

This court cannot allow the court proceedings to be obstructed in a manner that litigants are brutally thrashed in the court room and the presiding officer has to flee to her chamber for her safety." "This type of aggressive and violent conduct in the court will cause a virtual collapse of the system. This court cannot be a silent spectator to events of this kind. A clear and unequivocal message must go to unscrupulous persons that incident of this kind would not be tolerated and shall be dealt with sternly," said the bench.

It also called upon the commissioner of police, Prayagraj, to ensure that adequate police force is made available on the direction of district judge to allow smooth functioning of the court. The high court also directed the commissioner of police to authorize a responsible officer, not below the rank of assistant commissioner of Police, to specify the criminal history of all the persons against whom notices are issued in the present contempt matter. The status of the investigation or the action taken in this regard should also be specifically disclosed, the court said in its order.

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