It is not just the lawyers of Hapur but lawyers all across India who are now feeling most humiliated, most harangued and most harassed by the ruthless, reckless and roguish manner in which the police in Hapur most brazenly and also most mercilessly lathicharged the lawyers of Hapur who were returning after a peaceful protest right in the court premises itself as if they were some rioters. It must be said before stating anything else here that the most raw, most reprehensible and so also most ruthless manner in which the police in a most 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 without giving them any opportunity to disperse after they were returning from a peaceful protest is bone chilling and has caught not just the entire nation but the whole world by shock, awe and disbelief and has been widely reported in many international news channels! How can this happen but it has happened in reality!
To protest against this dastardly and cowardly attack by police on armless lawyers in large numbers with lathis is the worst assault on judiciary of which lawyers form an inseparable and essential component, the lawyers all across Uttar Pradesh were on strike on August 30 and the lawyers of West UP have been boycotting work since nearly one month! Lawyers all across India including the Supreme Court Bar Association, Allahabad High Court Bar Association, Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow High Court Bar Association, Bar Council of Delhi and many other Bar Associations too have expressed their utmost outrage over the barbaric attack on lawyers. No denying it!
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 after the protest was over, it was widely reported in several media reports that 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! Even very senior lawyers were not spared by the police! 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 and have unitedly boycotted work in court premises!
It must also be mentioned here that in the lathicharge we saw how about more than 30 lawyers got injured badly and even the 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! Even the Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary – Mr Rohit Pandey said that preliminary reports show that several lawyers have received serious injuries in the incident.
We saw earlier how even the Allahabad High Court Bar Association also declared that it would abstain from work on August 30, 2023 in solidarity with the lawyers of Hapur Bar. It must be also mentioned here that the Allahabad High Court Bar Association and Awadh Bar Association have taken this decision in a virtual meeting which was presided over by the President – Hon’ble Mr Ashok Singh and its Secretary – Hon’ble Mr Nitin Sharma. We also witnessed how the Allahabad High Court Bar Association Treasurer – Hon’ble Mr Ashish Mishra has also strongly condemned the ghastly incident of Hapur and has fervently appealed to the UP Bar Council to take an appropriate decision.
During the virtual meeting, the office bearers of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association have demanded strict action against the guilty policemen from the Uttar Pradesh government. It merits mentioning that Panchu Ram Maurya who is the former President of the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council said in no uncertain terms that, “The government should take the incident in Hapur seriously and strict action should be taken against the guilty policemen. The lawyers said that incidents of assault on lawyers by the police are coming to the fore. No action is taken against the policemen. This is the reason why such incidents are happening again and again.” The High Court Bar Association has demanded strict action against the guilty policemen from the Uttar Pradesh government. Along with this, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association has said that the Advocates Protection Act should be implemented so that no such incident can happen in the future. Even the UP Bar Council President – Hon’ble Mr Shivkumar Gaur and so also senior Member of UP Bar Council – Hon’ble Mr Amarendra Nath Singh also have demanded the registration of FIR against the guilty police personnel.
Mr Shiv Kishor Gaur who is Chairman of Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh has also time and again reiterated his full support to the lawyers of Hapur and demanded strictest action against the erring police personnel who had lathicharged, registering of criminal case against them and transferring them from Hapur 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 lawyers will step up the protests! It must also be mentioned that the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh has also in this case declared a state-wide strike by advocates on August 30, 2023 and later also to protest against the ghastly attack on lawyers by the police in Hapur.
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 as mentioned above 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”.
Speaking for myself, at least I am definitely most shell shocked to see how the lawyers of Hapur district were being beaten black and blue as if they were some rioters who were killing innocent people and am completely shaken to the hilt. By the way, when rioters indulge in rioting then we rarely see such boldness by the police! How can any sane person justify such ruthless lathicharge by police on lawyers right inside court premises in Hapur? This most dastardly act on lawyers who constitute the biggest crown of our Indian Judicial System due to which eminent jurist and former Supreme Court lawyer – late Mr Nani A Palkhiwala refused to accept not just Judgeship of Supreme Court but even Chief Justice of India and was more than happy being a lawyer and this explains the pivotal role of lawyers in the functioning of judiciary!
It must definitely be asked: Why should men in police uniform be given a blank cheque to beat anyone whenever they want, wherever they want and whomsoever they want without being ever held to task in any manner! Such policemen who dare to cross their limits must be made to face the music of the law and should be imposed the most stringent punishment and this is what we rarely seeing happen due to which we see the growing tendency of the police to always cross their limits and go berserk even on occasions where it was just not warranted! Why police as we see most often tends to be oblivious of the glaring and irrefutable fact that the men and women in black coat are officers of the court and they deserve to be treated with utmost respect and definitely not with contempt as if they were some rioters out to indulge in anti-social acts?
It must be certainly mentioned here without fail that while rising up to the occasion, the Supreme Court Bar Association in its resolution SCBA/EC.2023-24/292 dated August 30, 2023 as shared by Hon’ble Dr OP Sharma Sir in advocates group in Meerut has certainly been most unequivocal in observing without mincing any words that, “The Supreme Court Bar Association strongly condemns the inhumane and violent act of police on advocates in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, where the women advocates were also not spared from the brutality. The lathi charge on the advocates, who were protesting peacefully against the alleged high-handedness of the police, is a clear violation of their rights and the rule of law. The Supreme Court Bar Association will not tolerate any attack on the prestige of advocates and in pursuance, demands that the Uttar Pradesh Government shall take immediate steps to:
- Investigate the incident and bring the guilty police officers to justice.
- Censure the police officers responsible for the lathi charge.
- Pay compensation to the injured advocates.
- Take measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
- Introduce and implement the Advocates Protection Act for the protection of advocates and its families against such brutal incidents.
- Take steps to improve the law and order situation in the State and to ensure that the police personnel are accountable for their actions.
The Supreme Court Bar Association also calls upon the Bar Council of India and all other State Bar Councils to take necessary steps to protect the rights of advocates and to ensure that they are able to discharge their duties without fear of intimidation or harassment.
The Supreme Court Bar Association stands in solidarity with the advocates of Hapur and pledges to do everything in its power to ensure that justice is served.”
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 as suggested by the Apex Court itself in Prakash Singh case in 2006 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 mercilessly the police shockingly indulged in unprovoked lathicharge due to which so many lawyers suffered so many serious injuries in Hapur. 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! Supreme Court must definitely take suo motu cognizance of this entire unsavoury incident and this will certainly go a long way in assuaging greatly the hurt sentiments of lawyers cutting across boundaries of States and nations with even Kathmandu Bar Association speaking out openly against the lathicharge!
Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh
