U'khand HC pulls up bar association for restricting members from representing accused in court

The Uttarakhand High Court Thursday came down heavily on the Kotdwar Bar Association for prohibiting its members from representing the accused in court in a case pertaining to the murder of a lawyer.

While hearing a PIL challenging the legality of such a resolution, Chief Justice of the high court Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma expressed extreme displeasure over the matter saying if such a resolution has been passed it is completely unacceptable.

Such a resolution will amount to predetermination of guilt of the accused by the advocates which cannot be permitted under law. Lawyers have high duty towards litigants, they said.

"Even if someone shoots me then also you cannot refuse to represent the accused in court. Even Kasab was not denied representation in court," the chief justice said.

The division bench sent urgent notices to the Kotdwar Bar Association, the Bar Council of Uttarakhand and the Bar Council of India seeking a reply from them on the matter.

Sushil Raghuvanshi, an advocate who was part of the Kotdwar Bar Association, was shot dead by some unknown persons in 2017.

Five persons, including two shooters accused in the case, were arrested recently while another accused surrendered a couple of days later.

At an emergency meeting convened by the Kotdwar Bar Association after the arrest of the accused, the lawyers body issued a strict warning to its members asking them not to represent the accused in the court or face eviction.

One of the accused, Vinod Lala who is a well known property dealer of Kotdwar, went to court challenging the legality of the resolution passed by the district bar association, his lawyer Kartikeya Hari Gupta said.