Advocate gets more time to respond to controversial statements

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave lawyer M.L.Sharma, who appeared for the December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape accused, another two weeks to respond to a petition by apex court woman lawyers body seeking action against him and another advocate A.P.Singh for allegedly making derogatory remarks against women in a BBC documentary on the case.

A bench of Justice V.Gopala Gowda and Justice C. Nagappan gave the extra time after he sought more time to file his response to the petition by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA).

Sharma, the advocate for accused Mukesh and Pawan, told the court that the petitioner organisations have filed pleas before the Bar Council of India and the Supreme Court Bar Association with the same prayer.

However as the court asked him if he was ready to argue his case, he sought more time to file his response to the plea seeking to debar him from entering the apex court premises.

The court has issued notice to the other advocate against whom too the SCWLA has sought action for making controversial statements to the maker of documentary "Daughter of India".

The SCWLA has sought protection of their fundamental rights to work with dignity and without gender bias. In the petition, they said they have moved the court due to the "ignominy and the direct attack on the dignity of women, especially women lawyers practicing in Supreme Court who have suffered due to the statements made and publicized by two male lawyers", specially Sharma who regularly practices in the apex court.

The women lawyers have described the remarks as "inhumane, scandalous, biased, outrageous".