Chief Justice's Court

Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 15895 of 2015

Petitioner:- In Re :
Respondent:- Zila Adhivakta Sangh Allahabad
Counsel for Petitioner:- Ayub Khan
Counsel for Respondent:- Ajai Shankar Pathak, Ashutosh Dwivedi, CSC,

CP

Upadhyay, D Ktiwari, Daya Shankar Mishra, Mohit Bihari Mathur, R Kojha, R

K Singh, Rakesh Pandey, Ramesh Pandey, Ratnakar Upadhyay, Ravi Kiran Jain,
Ritesh Srivastava, S C Mishra, Sanjiv Kumar Pandey, Santosh Kumar Pandey,
Swetashwa Agrawal,Tahir Husain, V B Upadhyay, V C Srivastava,Vivek Kumar
Singh
Hon'ble Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, Chief Justice
Hon'ble Rakesh Tiwari, J
Hon'ble Rajes Kumar, J
Hon'ble V K Shukla, J
Hon'ble Arun Tandon, J
Hon'ble Tarun Agarwala, J
Hon'ble Dilip Gupta, J
A serious incident is reported to have taken place on 30 July 2015 in the
District Court at Aligarh. Shri Achchhey Lal Gupta, Additional Chief Judicial
Magistrate, Court No-VII, Aligarh was, in the course of the discharge of his
duties, hearing judicial proceedings. During the course of the lunch recess, the
judge had retired to his chamber and was perusing documents. In his report
dated 30 July 2015 to the Registrar General, the judge has stated that when he
was in his chamber, an Advocate representing the accused in a matter which was
being conducted in his court, Shri Ganesh Sharma came to his chamber with an
envelope and placed the envelope close to the judge stating that he must grant
bail to an accused by the name of Rahul. The judge in his report, states that he
informed the Advocate that he would decide the case in accordance with law,
and that the Advocate should refrain from offering him any inducement. Upon

the judge expressing his displeasure, the Advocate left his chamber along with
the envelope and after a lapse of 15 or 20 minutes, returned with two other
Advocates, namely, Shri Jagdish Saraswat, President, Civil Bar Association,
Aligarh and Shri Pradeep Kumar Singh (P K Singh), former President of the Bar
Association. All the three Advocates pressurized the judge for the grant of bail to
the accused. The judge states that he was informed by Shri P K Singh that his
request was that bail should be granted and that was also his direction. When the
judge was proceeding to his court room after the lunch recess at 2.00 pm and
was alighting the stairs, Shri P K Singh, Shri Jagdish Saraswat and Shri Ganesh
Sharma came and threatened him of dire consequences if he were not to grant
bail. The judge stated that he would discharge his duty in accordance with law.
At that stage, Shri P K Singh caught hold of the collar of the judge, abused him
and assaulted him in the face. As a result of the assault, the spectacles of the
judge had broken. After this, all the three Advocates caught hold of the judge by
the neck and hands and proceeded to assault him. The judge attempted to return
to his chamber where the assault continued. The judge has also stated that he
was also assaulted with a pointed instrument on his right hand as a result which
he received injuries on both his hands. The band which was worn by judge was
torn in the incident. As a result of the commotion, the staff attached to the court,
namely, Court Moharrir Pradeep Kumar, the Court's Clerk Prashant Maheshwari,
Head Constable Suresh Chandra and Jitendra came and saved the judge from
further assault.
A First Information Report was registered at Police Station Civil Lines,
Aligarh as Case Crime No 471 of 2015 under Sections, 332, 353, 307, 323, 324,
504, 506 and 427 of the Penal Code. The case is under investigation. The Senior

Superintendent of Police, Aligarh has submitted a report dated 12 August 2015

to the Registrar General of this Court.
Notice of the incident has been taken by a Division Bench of this Court
while issuing a notice of criminal contempt against the Advocates concerned.
The issue which has come to light, raises important questions in regard to
the safety and security of judicial officers and the dignity of judicial offices.
Maintenance of law and order within the precincts of the court premises across
the State is a matter of highest concern. Prima facie, from the material which has
emerged before the Court, we are of the view that immediate steps are necessary
to ensure that the premises of the court at Aligarh are secured from such
disruptive activities which threaten not only the safety and security of individual
judges but also raise wider issues about the course of administration of justice in
the State.
We accordingly direct notices to be issued to (i) Shri Ganesh Sharma,
Advocate; (ii) Shri Jagdish Saraswat, Advocate; and (iii) Shri P K Singh,
Advocate. The notices shall be delivered through the Senior Superintendent of
Police, Aligarh.
In the meantime, we are of the view that, having regard to the seriousness
of the incident which has taken place and to preserve the sanctity of the district
court, immediate steps are necessary to ensure the exclusion of the three
Advocates from the premises of the district court at Aligarh with immediate
effect.
We, accordingly, direct that until further orders of this Court, the aforesaid
three Advocates shall refrain from entering the premises of the District Court at
Aligarh. We, however, clarify that this order will not preclude the three

Advocates from surrendering before the court, in the event that such an
eventuality occurs upon and in the event of their arrest.
As we have noted above, notices have also been issued by the Division
Bench while taking cognizance of criminal contempt proceedings. We direct that
further proceedings shall now be listed before this Bench of seven Judges for
further directions on 28 August 2015 at 2.00 p.m.
The Court has been apprised of the fact that a resolution has been passed
on 12 August 2015 by the Civil Bar Association, Aligarh. By an earlier joint
resolution dated 11 August 2012 of the Aligarh Bar Association and the Civil
Bar Association, Aligarh, it was resolved to abstain from work. The Civil and
Criminal Bar Association, Iglas had also by a resolution dated 11 August 2015
supported the call of the Aligarh Bar Association to abstain from work.
However, it appears that a decision has now been taken to suspend the strike and
to abstain from the court of Shri Achchhey Lal Gupta, Additional Chief Judicial
Magistrate, Court No VII, Aligarh and to press for his transfer from the district.
Prima facie, we are of the view that the abstention from work by the
members of the Bar and to press for the transfer of the judge who was assaulted
during the course of the incident referred to above, is in breach of the orders
passed by the Supreme Court as well as by this Court. We, accordingly, direct
that notice shall issue to (i) Shri Budhpal Singh, President, Civil Bar
Association; (ii) Shri R K Chaudhary, Member, Civil Bar Association; (iii) Shri
Rambabu Sharma, Advocate. Notice shall also issue to the Presidents and the
Secretaries of the Civil Bar Association, Aligarh and the Aligarh Bar Association
and also to the President and the Secretary of the Civil and Criminal Bar
Association, Iglas, Aligarh returnable on 28 August 2015.

The second incident took place in the court of Smt Swati, Judicial
Magistrate-II, Allahabad on 29 July 2015. The District Judge, Allahabad, by his
letter dated 29 July 2015 has reported that certain Advocates entered the court
room of the judge and assaulted two persons namely, Kapil Dubey and Bhaskar
Dubey who stand accused in Case Crime No 117 of 2015 under Sections 323,
504, 506, 427 and 307 of the Penal Code at Police Station Holagarh. Two of the
Advocates who assaulted the accused have been identified as Shri Rajesh Mishra
and Shri Shailendra Mishra, Advocates, apart from whom, the report indicates
that there were 20-25 unknown Advocates.
We are of the view that this incident also raises serious questions in regard
to the safety and security of the court premises and the standard of behaviour
which is expected of Advocates while dealing with the members of the Bar,
litigants and Judges. Applying the same principle to which we have adverted
above, we issue notice to Shri Rajesh Mishra and Shri Shailendra Mishra,
Advocates returnable on 28 August 2015. The notice shall be served through the
Senior Superintendent of Police, Allahabad.
The District Judge, Allahabad is directed to conduct an enquiry and
submit a report before this Court on the next date of listing in regard to the
identity of other Advocates who may be involved in the assault along with the
two advocates named above within the precincts of the court room.
In the meantime, we issue an order restraining Shri Rajesh Mishra and
Shri Shailendra Mishra, Advocates from entering the premises of the District
Court at Allahabad.
The third incident took place on 2 April 2015 at Hapur district. The letter
of the District Judge states that Shri Mithilesh Kumar Tiwari, Civil Judge (Junior

Division), Garhmukteshwar, District Hapur reported that one Ramkishor Kain, a

so-called Advocate, whose address is shown as D-9, Civil Court, Ghaziabad,
entered his chambers without his permission and misbehaved with the judicial
officer at 4.00 pm on 25 March 2015. Later on, Shri Kanwar Pal Singh,
Advocate and the Secretary of the Garhmukteshwar Bar Association informed
the judicial officer that Shri Kain is not an Advocate and the registration number
(UP 7519/2010) furnished by Shri Kain in a purported apology written on 25
March 2015 has been found to be false. The letter of the District Judge indicates
that the matter is of a serious nature.
We, accordingly, direct that notice shall issue to Shri Ramkishor Kain
returnable on 28 August 2015. The notice shall be served through the Senior
Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad.
In the meantime, we restrain the aforesaid individual (Shri Ramkishor
Kain) from entering the precincts of the District Courts at Garhmukteshwar and
Ghaziabad.
The fourth incident is in respect of the District Court of Pratapgarh. The
District Judge has addressed a communication dated 10 April 2015 reporting an
incident which took place outside the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on 8
April 2015. In this regard, we direct the District Judge, Pratapgarh to furnish his
report on the nature of the incident and the identity of the persons involved in the
incident within a period of one week from today to the Registrar General of this
Court. The Registrar General shall issue a communication to the District Judge
for compliance in terms of this order.
On 8 May 2015, this Court issued detailed directions to the State
Government for the purpose of ensuring due steps to secure the safety and

security both of the District Courts as well as of this Court. We are, in particular,
concerned with the safety and security of the District Courts across the State for
which we have issued directions. From the compliance reports which have been
placed on the record by the Registrar General, it appears that detailed estimates
have been submitted by the District Judges after the three Member Committees
were constituted for each district by this Court. The Court has not been apprised
of the status of the matter and the stage at which the issues are pending
consideration before the State Government.
We are of the view that since important questions of safety and security of
the District Courts in particular are being discussed and debated upon, the
presence of the Principal Secretary (Finance), Principal Secretary (Home) and
the Principal Secretary (Law) would be necessary for assisting the Court. In the
meantime, the learned Advocate General has assured the Court that he will call
for a meeting of the concerned officers and would apprise the Court by filing a
compliance report of the status of the matter.
List on 28 August 2015 at 2.00 p.m.
Order Date :- 14.8.2015
AHA
(Dr D Y Chandrachud, CJ)
(Rakesh Tiwari, J)
(Rajes Kumar, J)
(V K Shukla, J)
(Arun Tandon, J)
(Tarun Agarwala, J)
(Dilip Gupta, J)