Punjab and Haryana High Court Takes Suo Motu Cognisance of Alleged Assault on Advocate

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the alleged assault on an advocate, Amit, by Haryana Police personnel in plainclothes at Nayagaon, Punjab, on November 30, with Chief Justice Sheel Nagu observing that the complaint disclosed cognisable offences and yet no FIR had been registered even after more than two weeks. The Chief Justice also urged lawyers who had abstained from work to return to court at the earliest, even as the Bar Association said it was bound by a general body resolution to resume work only after an FIR is registered in the case. The division bench of Chief Justice Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry noted that the incident appeared to raise issues of public interest concerning the safety and dignity of advocates practising before the court. Dictating the order in open court, Chief Justice Nagu recorded that the incident allegedly took place around 3 pm on November 30 at SCF-51, Tribune Colony, Kansal, in Mohali district, and that a written complaint had been submitted by the victim advocate to the Nayagaon police station the same day. “The beginning of the complaint itself shows that prima facie cognisable offences are made out. It is not understandable why an FIR has not been registered,” the Chief Justice observed, adding that the advocate had also emailed a complaint to the senior superintendent of police on December 7.