Allahabad High Court has taken very seriously the incident of people entering the court of Civil Judge Senior Division in District Court Prayagraj and assaulting and vandalizing the litigants. Taking cognizance of the reference sent by the Civil Judge regarding the incident, the High Court has banned the entry of two accused lawyers Ranvijay Singh and Mohammad Asif into the District Court premises. Both of them have been issued criminal and contempt notices and asked why they should not be punished for criminal contempt. The court has also sought a report from the District Judge regarding the entire incident and has asked to find out by looking at the CCTV footage etc. which other people and advocates were involved in this incident.
Taking cognizance of the context of the entire incident, the division bench of Justice Ashwini Kumar Mishra and Justice Azhar Hussain Idrisi of Allahabad High Court made a scathing comment and said that this incident has raised serious questions on how the proceedings of the court are being conducted. . The reference sent by the presiding officer shows that because of these lawyers the court process came to a complete standstill. Such incidents are a serious challenge to the conduct of the judicial process. These need to be taken seriously. The court said that prima facie there is a clear case of criminal contempt by advocates Ranvijay Singh and Mohammad Asif. The accused lawyers will no longer be able to practice or argue in any court.
Membership of four lawyers terminated
Taking strict action against Ranvijay Singh, Mohammad Asif, Mahtab and Aftab, accused of assaulting the litigants in the court room of the district court and misbehaving with the judge, the District Advocates Association has terminated their membership. Union Minister Dinesh Chandra Padey said that taking cognizance of the matter, a crime has also been registered against the accused lawyers under serious sections in Colonelganj police station. The Bar has said in this case that the acts of these lawyers are contrary to the provisions of the Advocates Act and against the dignity of the association.
Allegation of beating the litigant inside the court
In the reference sent to the High Court by the Civil Judge of Prayagraj, it was said that on April 29, the hearing of the civil case of Mulayam Singh vs Tarsu Lal was going on in his court. Meanwhile, a group of lawyers entered the court and started pressurizing for the hearing of the case of Ranvijay Singh and others vs Khurshid Ahmed. In this the plaintiff himself is an advocate. Advocate Ranvijay Singh and other lawyers accompanying him beat up the litigants while pressurizing them for the hearing. Also misbehaved with the presiding officer. The Civil Judge has recorded all these facts during the hearing of the case and the District Judge has sent its reference to the High Court.
The presiding officer has written in his order that the President of the District Advocates Association tried to resolve the matter from his level but Ranvijay Singh and Mohammad Asif were not ready to listen to him at all. According to him, after this the Speaker walked out of the court to save himself. On the other hand, the crowd of lawyers accompanying Ranvijay Singh went up to the dais in the court and attacked Parvez Ansari and his wife. When both of them entered the judge’s chamber to escape, the lawyers entered there and beat them.
The presiding officer had to run into the CJM’s chamber to save himself. Police officers were immediately informed about this incident. The presiding officer has also expressed threat to his own safety. Because the incident happened in his chamber and court. The presiding officer has recorded the entire incident in his order in the same order in which it occurred. Allahabad High Court directed the Police Commissioner Prayagraj that on the demand of the District Judge, adequate police force should be deployed in the District Court premises so that such an incident does not happen again.
