Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of assault on Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia

The Supreme Court on Thursday took suo motu cognisance of the assault on Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia and advocate Muskan Gupta at a Greater Noida Court. (In Re Assault on Two Members of the Supreme Court Bar Association at Gautam Budh Nagar District Court Complex).A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra emphasized the Court's disapproval of bar association strikes and said that manhandling of two Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) members warranted the Court's interference."In repeated judgments, this court has deprecated the strikes by Bar associations ... A strike by members of the bar affects the litigants who are the most vital stakeholders in the legal profession. At this stage, there is no reason why this court should not prima facie accept what is placed on the record .... We are of the view that the manhandling of two members of the Supreme Court Bar Association is serious matter which warrants the interference of this court, particularly since the acts and conduct complained of would be in breach of the binding principles laid down by this Court in regard to strikes by advocates," the Court stated..Bhatia is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and earlier served as SCBA's Honorary Secretary. On Wednesday, he reportedly had his band snatched inside a district court in Noida where lawyers were observing a strike.The matter was mentioned today by Attorney General R Venkataramani, as well as Senior Advocates Vikas Singh, KK Venugopal and Jayant Bhushan.Singh underlined that a Constitution Bench judgment also dictates that lawyers cannot be obstructed from entering courts.The Bar Council of India (BCI) informed the Court that it had noted the incident and issued notice to the Greater Noida and Ghaziabad Bar Associations.Singh further informed the Court that advocate Muskan Gupta was assaulted as well."Suddenly strike started. They snatched my band. They pushed me saying 'Yeh Dilli se hai' and my head struck on the almirah," Gupta told the Court..Accordingly, the Court directed its Registry to initiate a suo motu case based on the incident, issued notice to President of Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) Bar Association, and listed the matter for hearing on April 1 at 10.30 am."Let the President and Secretary of Bar Association be personally present," the Court added, asking that notice be senior to them through the Noida Senior Superintendant of Police.The Court further directed the District judge at Gautam Buddh Nagar to ensure that CCTV footage of the incident is preserved pending further orders."The District Judge shall also obtain a report from the administrative staff attached to the court of Smt. Babita Pathak ... in whose court Ms. Muskan Gupta has alleged that an incident involving her manhandling took place. The copies of the report of District Judge shall be forwarded to the Registrar (Judicial) of this Court," the Court added.The report has to identify the specific persons involved in the incident, it was specified..Notably, the SCBA on Wednesday had condemned the assault on Bhatia and had called for action against the lawyer who attacked him.Thereafter, on Thursday morning, the BCI took cognisance of the incident and said that prima facie, it was a case of gross professional misconduct. It had issued notice to the Greater Noida and Ghaziabad Bar Associations..[Read order]