Punjab man moves SC against Jabalpur Bar Association’s instruction to local lawyers not to represent him

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 17

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Bar Council of India (BCI) on a petition filed by a man from Ludhiana in Punjab against Jabalpur District Bar Association’s instruction to local lawyers not to represent him in a matrimonial legal battle with his estranged wife.

A Vacation Bench headed by Justice UU Lalit also issued notice to the state of Madhya Pradesh and posted the matter for hearing next week.

The petitioner contended that every accused had a fundamental right to free and fair trial which also included his/her right to be represented by a lawyer of his/her own choice.

The petitioner, who has also written to the National Human Rights Commission, wondered as to under what provision of law a bar body could ask its members not to represent a litigant.

Terming it illegal and unethical, the petitioner pointed out that the top court had very recently in several cases stressed that every litigant had a right to be represented by a lawyer and bar associations can’t deny this right to him/her.

The petitioner, who is fighting several cases against his estranged wife, was in court in Jabalpur for attending a hearing in March, 2018. After the hearing, his wife’s lawyer counsel accused him of slapping him.

Following the alleged incident, he was beaten up on the court campus and arrested. He was released on bail on March 15.

He was surprised to know that the Jabalpur District Bar Association had issued instructions to advocates not to represent him.