"Attempt to defame judiciary", Allahabad High Court Bar Association opposes Justice BS Chauhan High Court visit

The High Court Bar Association of Allahabad has passed a resolution opposing the visit of former Supreme Court judge Justice BS Chauhan to the Allahabad High Court on January 11, in connection with the Vikas Dubey encounter case..In July last year, the apex court had given the green signal for an Inquiry Commission headed by Justice Chauhan to investigate the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey..The visit, the resolution dated January 8 states, seeks to probe the modus operandi of the judges of the Allahabad High Court, which is "unconstitutional and illegal"..The resolution passed in an emergency meeting presided by High Court Bar Association President Amarendra Nath Singh and Secretary P Shanker Misra states,“It (the visit) disrupts the independence of Judiciary and it is an attempt to defame the Judiciary of Uttar Pradesh.”.The Association further proclaimed that if the need arises, all the lawyers of Uttar Pradesh would collectively protest against Justice Chauhan’s visit..“Keeping in mind his actions, we all will agitate against the concerned inquiry visit and if needed, we will give a call to all the lawyers across Uttar Pradesh to protest against this illegal visit”, the Resolution reads..The resolution maintains that there is no provision provided under the Constitution that vests power on any committee to conduct such inquiry against the judges and the judiciary..Condemning the visit, the Bar Association has said,“Even Justice Chauhan is aware of the fact that such enquiry is illegal/unconstitutional and it is just an attempt to defame the judiciary of Uttar Pradesh.”.Further, the Bar Association has claimed that such an act would be against the independence of the judiciary. It thus calls upon every advocate to "stand against the unjust act"..“In such disturbing times, it is the duty of all the members/lawyers of the fraternity to stand united against this visit and the members of the Bar Association strongly oppose the aforementioned visit of Justice Chauhan.”.The Association also alleges that Justice Chauhan’s stand has always been "anti-advocates" and has now become "anti-judiciary". The resolution cites the ‘Srikant Awasthi’ incident which took place when Justice Chauhan was a judge of the Allahabad High Court..“We cannot forget what happened with Late Shrikant Awasthi, who was a practising lawyer of this High Court. He was charged with contempt of court by Justice Chauhan and later he was sent to Judicial custody (Naini Jail). Advocate Awasthi was tortured within the jail premises and ultimately succumbed to death. Many reports revealed that it was J. Chauhan who insisted the Police Authorities to torture Advocate Awasthi and later he was admitted to the hospital, just to hide the concerned incident, but he was already dead. The concerned inquiry which was initiated/conducted was dubious in nature and still the concerned report is not in Public domain.”.In August 2020, the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition seeking the scrapping of the three-member Inquiry Commission headed by Justice Chauhan. The The petitioner in that cases had expressed apprehensions of bias citing political links of members of Justice Chauhan's family..Vikas Dubey Encounter Case: Supreme Court rejects plea seeking to disband Inquiry Commission headed by Justice (retd.) BS Chauhan.The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde found no merit in this plea and dismissed the same, observing that there were sufficient safeguards with which the inquiry has to be conducted..Read the Statement: