Allahabad High Court issues contempt of court notices to 10 advocates accused of assaulting litigants

The Allahabad High Court recently issued criminal contempt of court notices to ten advocates accused of assaulting litigants at the Prayagraj district court..Additionally, the Court has barred them from entering the district court premises.A Bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Mohd Azhar Husain Idrisi observed that the present incident 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 courtroom and the Presiding Officer has to flee to her chambers 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," the Court observed..The lawyers against whom such notices have been issued are:1. Syeed Aftab Ahmad2. Mahtab Ahmad 3. Sanjeev Singh4. Ritesh Srivastava5. Ravi Sonkar6. Adarsh Shukla7. Vikas Singh8. Rishabh Singh9. Satyavan Singh 10. Adarsh @ Anshu.A clear and unequivocal message must go to unscrupulous persons that incidents of this kind would not be tolerated and shall be dealt with sternly, the Court added.The Court directed the Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj to ensure that sufficient police force is provided upon the direction of the District Judge, Prayagraj, to facilitate the smooth functioning of the court."The Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj will authorize a responsible officer, not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj, to specify the criminal history of all the persons against whom notices are issued in the present contempt matter. The status of investigation or the action taken in that regard shall also be specifically disclosed.".The High Court had on April 30 restrained two lawyers (Ran Vijay Singh and Mohd Asif) from practicing law in Uttar Pradesh courts after they were found to have ill-treated a civil court judge and led a mob which assaulted litigants.The Civil Judge (Senior Division), Prayagraj wrote a reference to the High Court stating that while proceedings in a suit were going on, a group of lawyers entered the courtroom and started pressurising the judge to take up another suit..It was also stated that the President of the local bar association had tried to resolve the issue, but Singh and Asif did not listen to him.Further, the mob that accompanied the lawyers allegedly made their way to the dais and physically assaulted two litigants, who tried to enter the judge’s chamber to save themselves.Advocate Sudhir Mehrotra represented the Court..[Read Order]