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Orders Security for Lawyers After Violence in Lucknow Court Premises
LUCKNOW: In a late-evening emergency hearing on , the took strong exception to the alleged assault of three Delhi-based advocates and their client inside the Lucknow district court premises. A special bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla was constituted at 7:00 PM on the directions of the Chief Justice after the lawyers filed an urgent application detailing brazen intimidation and physical violence. The court directed immediate police security for the advocates and ordered the District Judge and Police Commissioner to submit detailed reports by the next morning, observing that the incident struck at the heart of the .
A Courtroom Blocked, a Client Beaten: What the Advocates Alleged
The applicants— , and —had been engaged to file a on behalf of plaintiff Mohd. Shakir in Suit No. 2933 of 2025, a property dispute in which the main defendant is advocate . When they arrived at the , they found the courtroom vacant and were informed the matter had been transferred to another court due to urgency.
According to the application, Verma and his associates prevented the advocates from entering the courtroom, hurled abuses, and then thrashed Shakir brutally. The advocates told the High Court that they were warned: “ Vakil ke against case karega tu ” (You’ll file a case against a lawyer?) and “ Tum mere against kaise case le liye… warna acha nahi hoga ” (How did you take a case against me? … it won’t be good for you). The plaintiff was beaten so severely that he was bleeding. A video of the assault, played in court, prompted the bench to remark that it showed the litigant being assaulted.
A Chilling Pattern: “Not the First Time”
The High Court noted that this was not an isolated event. It pointed to earlier orders passed in a bunch of petitions, including No. 32524 of 2018, where repeated instances of advocates interfering with judicial work in the Lucknow district courts had compelled the constitution of a under the Joint Commissioner to probe advocates involved in land grabbing and obstruction of justice. Another plaintiff, Asif, was reportedly manhandled on , but no was registered.
The bench minced no words: “ This is not the first time that such an incident has happened in , in fact, such incidents compelled us to take … ” It further observed, “ The matter not only involves commission of an offence by the alleged persons but also of . ”
Reports, Security, and a Looming Transfer
During the hearing, Police Commissioner Amrendra Kumar Sengar (appearing via video conferencing) confirmed that Shakir had been sent for medical examination and that a had been received from one Harshit Pandey. The District Judge stated that CCTV footage had been examined and some advocates had been identified.
The court passed a slew of directions: - The District Judge and Police Commissioner must submit reports along with CCTV footage by 10:15 AM on . - The concerned DCP and the SHO of were directed to remain present in court. - The injured plaintiff, Mohd. Shakir, was ordered to be produced before the bench. - The applicant-advocates shall be provided adequate security by the during their stay in Lucknow , and their entry to the High Court on the next date was to be facilitated by the Senior Registrar. - The court also indicated it would consider transferring Suit No. 2933 of 2025 out of Lucknow given the alleged influence exercised by the accused advocate.
A Stern Message
The High Court’s swift intervention underscores a zero‑tolerance approach toward courtroom intimidation and violence by lawyers. By dispensing with the usual and treating the application as one of public interest, the bench signalled that it would not allow procedural niceties to shield . As the matter proceeds, the reports and CCTV evidence are expected to shed further light on the chain of events and the alleged criminal antecedents of the accused advocates.
