It must be said before stating anything else that the raw, reprehensible and ruthless manner in which the police in a high voltage drama had mercilessly all of a sudden started lathicharging the lawyers raining lathis even on women lawyers in the court premises itself in Hapur district in Western UP on August 29, 2023 after they were returning from a peaceful protest is bone chilling and has caught the entire nation by shock, awe and disbelief! It must also be mentioned here that in the lathicharge we saw how about more than 30 lawyers got injured badly and former President of Hapur District Bar – Mr Ajit Chaudhary also got seriously injured in the police lathicharge which cannot be justified on one pretext or the other by anyone! It was but natural that the lawyers of Hapur Bar Association have gone on indefinite strike in protest against the most horrifying attack on lawyers by the police in Hapur!

The billion dollar question is: How can police ever dare to ruthlessly lathicharge lawyers as if they were some illiterate people who were protesting without any rhyme or reason on road and there also no police personnel has the unfettered right to rain lathis without giving them an opportunity to disperse? How can the legal rights of none other than the lawyers themselves be not just transgressed but trampled upon by the men in police uniform themselves with impunity? How can such men in police uniform who dared to lathicharge lawyers without any provocation from the lawyers be allowed to continue in service and not be sent behind bars for their most despicable, dastardly and derisive act in which so many lawyers got badly injured! What if some lawyer had died on the spot because of such lathicharge?
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I still am shaking my head in disbelief that how can lawyers be beaten so ruthlessly by the police as if they were goondas! I am too shell shocked even now and am falling completely short of words to describe how hurt I am to see how brazenly, belligerently, brutally and blindly the police were lathicharging lawyers without even bothering about how much it was hurting them! It must be definitely said without mincing any words whatsoever that the most horrifying and the most horrendous manner in which the police in Hapur was indulging in unprovoked lathicharge and that too of none other than the lawyers themselves without any grave provocation is undoubtedly most shocking indeed and to say the very least cannot be allowed to go unhindered, unpunished and unaccounted for!

There can definitely be no gainsaying that the high handedness and most barbaric assault on the lawyers themselves who are the biggest, best and brilliant custodians of law in Hapur court premises deserves to be definitely condemned most strongly in the strongest parliamentary language and those guilty must definitely be most strictly punished and sent behind bars so that the right message goes all across that, “Be you ever so high, the law is above you!”

We all those who are in the legal profession must definitely consider ourselves most lucky that we have Hon’ble Mr Shiv Kishor Gaur as Chairman of Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh who has without wasting any time acted most decisively on his own demanding strictest action against the guilty police personnel, registering of criminal case against them and transferring them from Hapur within 48 hours to some other place and to adequately compensate those lawyers who have been injured in the lathicharge in order to strictly ensure that the legal rights of lawyers are not taken for granted and violated by the police with impunity without fear of anyone as seen in this case! He has also made it clear that if no strict and tangible action is taken promptly then the emergency meeting of the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh would be called to chalk out future strategy so that the State Government can be pressed to take the most strictest action against the guilty police personnel! It must also be mentioned that the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh has declared a state-wide strike by advocates on August 30, 2023 to protest against the ghastly attack on lawyers by the police in Hapur.

I really from the innermost core of my mind and heart appreciate and thank profusely Hon’ble Mr Shiv Kishor Gaur Sir for acting most decisively in this regard and most promptly also which has certainly shaken each and every lawyer to the hilt! It is also most gratifying to learn that the Allahabad High Court Bar Association has also most commendably expressed full solidarity with the lawyers of Hapur who were lathicharged upon by the police and in the meeting convened, the President of Allahabad High Court Bar Association – Hon’ble Mr Ashok Kumar Singh most forcefully condemned the brutal lathicharge on lawyers in Hapur and demanded strictest action against those who indulged in unprovoked lathicharge in which so many lawyers were injured not sparing even women lawyers!

It cannot be lightly dismissed by anyone that none other than the Bar Council of UP has also taken a very serious note of it and Mr Anurag Pandey who is the Vice-Chairman of Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh has even written a letter to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh mentioning about this ghastly incident which has shocked the entire legal fraternity which is well substantiated by this letter in which it is also very strongly urged in the interest of justice to take the strictest action against the erring police personnel and transferring them to some other place. There has to be zero tolerance for such unwarranted and excessive assault by men in uniform on officers of the court that is advocates! It is high time and now the message must go loud and clear that, “Be you ever so high, the law is above you”.

To recapitulate and for the uninitiated, it certainly must be mentioned first and foremost that the lawyers of Hapur district were protesting peacefully in the Tehsil Chauraha against the registration of a fake case against a woman lawyer named Priyanka Tyagi and her father after the vehicle of Priyanka accompanied with her father collided with a vehicle of a police cop named Mohit on August 26, 2023. While protesting against it, we saw how without any reason and without any provocation of any kind from the lawyers, the police purportedly indulged in suddenly lathi-charging the lawyers at the alleged directions of a CO after a verbal exchange of words between the police and the protesting lawyers due to which many advocates sustained minor to severe injuries as advocates did not get time to even fled! How can lawyers who are officers of the court be treated so shabbily by the police and yet escape with impunity? So it was but natural that the lawyers all across the State in Uttar Pradesh are certainly most agitated and are brewing in huge resentment and unpacified anger about this most unsavoury incident in Hapur!

It is completely incomprehensible and I am totally gobsmacked and most baffled to see that Centre is delaying inordinately what the Apex Court so very commendably directed on police reforms in landmark Prakash Singh vs Union of India (2006) 3 SCC (Cri) 417 case which even after 17 years are lying unimplemented to overhaul the manner in which police functions.

Above all, it is incomprehensible that when Centre rushed through Agniveer Yojana for army soldiers due to which we saw many trains being burnt and huge protests in different parts of India then why we see Centre never bringing such similar schemes for police personnel? Why is police not made more accountable to the people? Why we see that the most landmark directions issued by the Apex Court in Lalita Kumari’s case pertaining to the registration of FIRs is practiced more in breach and still no strict action taken against police personnel! It is high time and Centre must amend the law and make it a serious, cognizable and non-bailable offence for the police if they dare to refuse to register an FIR. The moot question is: Why should men in uniform be given a long rope always and not held accountable for not doing their duty by which they are bound to do?

It must be definitely asked that when Centre can change our penal laws then why can’t it make the necessary changes involving our police functioning by which our police is trained to make them more people friendly and with more respect for human rights? What stops Centre from doing so? Why we see that the most commendable and landmark directions delivered by the Apex Court in the high profile Prakash Singh case as I touched upon briefly hereinabove are still lying unimplemented even after more than 17 years?

Needless to say, why should a common person suffer endlessly because of the police? Why should such person in police uniform not be dismissed from service if they dare to refuse to lodge an FIR? If persons in uniform in police are most strictly held accountable then no person in police uniform will ever dare to refuse to lodge FIR or dare to demand bribe for lodging an FIR or misbehave even with common man what to talk about lawyers so brazenly, brashly and blindly? We have seen how just recently the Apex Court wondered aloud that in Manipur why police for 14 days had refused to lodge an FIR? There can be no gainsaying that this definitely requires prompt redressal and cannot be put on the backburner any longer!

The billion dollar question that really arises here is: Why unlike Army we see that Centre never even cares to seriously deliberate on launching “Agniveer Yojana” for the police also so that they cannot rest and take their service for granted? If this cannot be done then to say the very least why do we see that the police personnel are not made more accountable when they indulge in using excessive use of force? Why are they allowed to get away just by being transferred to some other place when they indulge in gross violations of human rights not sparing even lawyers and doctors what to talk about the rest?

The moot question here is: Why should the police not be jailed at least for a few years when they resort to unprovoked lathicharge as we have seen most recently in Hapur itself? It is high time and both the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh State Government must take most decisive steps in this direction to ensure that a permanent cure is done so that the police becomes more dedicated, determined and disciplined to serve in the manner in which they are expected to! This is more imperative than ushering in reforms in any other field and last but not the least Centre must ponder that why should police be left untouched, unattended and unredressed which is the most crucial part in ensuring the smooth law and order in all over the nation and we all know that all is not well with our police and it is not just the common person but even those in black coats who are “officers of the court” and yet are so scornfully treated by police?

Of course, a band-aid treatment for a deep wound is no solution and it is high time that Centre realizes that it has grievously erred by never caring to usher in police reforms which is so desperately needed since last so many years and instead Centre has brought in Army reforms suddenly which our Apex Court never advocated and which no one had demanded! How long will Centre turn its face away from this unpalatable truth? How long will Centre keep dilly-dallying on police reforms without any prima facie cause as we have been seeing since last so many decades and not take any firm and decisive steps as are so urgently needed in the case of police reforms?

On a concluding note, the lawyers all across Uttar Pradesh and even elsewhere are entirely numbed to see how ruthlessly the police indulged in unprovoked lathicharge due to which so many lawyers suffered many serious injuries. It is high time and certainly Centre must now without forwarding puerile excuses take some most decisive and tangible steps on ushering in police reforms without any more further delay as it can no longer be put on the backburner! Let’s fervently hope so!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh