It is definitely my most strong personal belief in my individual personal capacity that the unwarranted, unexpected and unjustified arrest of Shahi Jama Masjid Committee President and so also eminent, learned and senior lawyer Mr Zafar Ali who commands a huge fan following not only among Muslims but even among many Hindus and people from other religions and communities alike could definitely have been avoided in connection with the November 24 violence that erupted suddenly in Sambhal over the court ordering survey of the Mughal era 500-year-old mosque after a petition was filed claiming that it was site of an ancient Hindu temple which I definitely feel was not justified at all.

It merits just no reiteration that searching temple in every mosque cannot be ever justified and I have no hesitation whatsoever in saying that courts must also most strongly refrain from freely indulging in ordering survey at the drop of a hat as it leads to lot of discontentment and communal tensions and loss of precious lives as we saw most terribly in Sambhal which must be avoided at all costs! He is certainly a person of eminence and of proven integrity and not some notorious criminal who could flee that his arrest was so necessary that police could not just wait!

It was but quite ostensible that as a natural fallout, lawyers in not just Sambhal but some other districts also staged a pen-down protest against his untimely and unjustified sudden arrest. It cannot be certainly lost sight of that the advocates group which held so many huge protests in all the courts under the Sambhal district against the uncalled arrest of Mr Zafar Ali alleged clearly that the arrest was an attempt to prevent him somehow or anyhow from testifying before a judicial commission investigating the incident.

It is worth paying attention that cannot be just glossed over that Mohammad Nazar Qureshi who is the President of the Chandousi Court Bar Association in Sambhal was most forthcoming in acknowledging graciously that:
Various courts under Sambhal district like Chandousi, Gunnaur, and Sambhal remained closed today as part of the strike. There was no FIR against him, yet he was sent to jail under unspecified charges. This is a wrongful act by the police. Even Hapur Bar Association has also most commendably reiterated its support and abstained from work unitedly on 26.03.2025!

To be sure, it must definitely be asked: How can such a despicable act be ever tried to be justified on one pretext or the other? How can an eminent and senior lawyer like Mr Zafar Ali be sent to jail at the drop of a hat? This definitely only serves to tarnish our international reputation to a large extent and so also beyond an iota of doubt violates the legal right of a serving advocate who is also an officer of the court which police must definitely always bear in mind!

On a strictly personal note, I most strongly believe that all lawyers irrespective of religion, caste, community, creed or sex must all unite in not just Sambhal or in just West UP or in just UP but rather all over India must stand on one platform in full, firm and final solidarity with one of the most eminent, senior and learned lawyer Mr Zafar Ali of Chandausi in Sambhal district. This undoubtedly all the more necessitates the immediate implementation of The Advocate Protection Act! It brooks no more delay any longer now!

Let us not be oblivious of the irrefutable fact that according to Section 11 of the proposed Advocate Protection Act, the Bill also gives the court the authority to compensate the advocates for wrongs done to them. It reads clearly as: No Police Officer shall arrest an Advocate or investigate a case against an Advocate without the explicit direction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. If this proposed Act had been implemented as advocates have been demanding since such a long time, Mr Zafar Ali would not have been made to suffer most unfairly to rot in jail without even an FIR being lodged against him!

He has so many decades of most distinguished experience of practising in district court yet he has been made to most astoundingly languish in jail with no one even lodging an FIR against him which really makes me shake my head in total disbelief as to how can he be imprisoned still and how can such a senior lawyer be treated so shabbily? As he was being escorted by the police to jail, Mr Zafar Ali was most vocal in telling reporters that:
I did not incite any violence. His unwarranted arrest definitely has to be condemned in the strongest parliamentary language!

By any reckoning, what I find even most astonishing is that when his advocates and his family members wanted to meet him, they were refused which cannot be justified at all from any angle! The family alleges that he was send to Moradabad jail and that his life is in danger which definitely cannot be ever taken lightly under any circumstances! His family also alleges that he is not being given his medicines which is most deplorable and has to be most strongly condemned as it directly involves his survival for which he was taking those medicines!

While speaking to reporters, his elder brother Mr Mohammad Tahir Ali who is also a lawyer claimed that the family members have been denied permission to visit him in jail. He also laid bare lamenting that:
He is being treated as if he is a hardened criminal. He also further alleged that Ali’s life was at risk inside the prison.

What also cannot go unnoticed is that his elder brother also lamented in anguish laying bare that:
He is 70 years old and even his medicines are not being allowed. The police are misbehaving and the administration has crossed all limits. He also further alleged that the arrest was a deliberate move to silence him ahead of his scheduled testimony before a three-member judicial commission on March 24. He also told reporters while conversing with them that, Zafar was supposed to testify before the Commission tomorrow, and that is why they are deliberately sending him to jail.

It is worth noting that he also was unsparing in pointing out that the administration was escalating tensions. He deemed it fit to quote very rightly his brother’s last words before being taken into custody that:
No problem, I am ready to go to jail. I will not back down from the truth. This truly shows how strong his moral fibre is!

It certainly also merits mentioning that eminent and learned and so also senior lawyer – Mohammad Islam who is the President of District Bar Association of Sambhal district has also reiterated the full, firm and final unstinted support to him and I am sure that the lawyers of all streams would definitely stand with him unitedly in this phase which he is undergoing! Even the Bar Council of India must immediately take into note and urge police to cooperate and not harass him and his family! There is no reason why UP Bar Council should not stand in full solidarity with him in his hour of need and I am sure that they will not disappoint him!

In a nutshell, it is high time and Supreme Court must take suo motu cognizance of increasing violations of basic rights of lawyers in India and must order the immediate implementation of The Advocate Protection Act which even the Supreme Court Bar Association has lend its unstinted support always and so also all Bar Bodies in India. Even the police must be definitely taken to task and if they wrongly arrest any lawyer then they must be punished, penalized and put behind bars so that they don’t ever dare to take lawyers for granted again and stop acting at the behest of their political masters blindly, brutally and baselessly! There can be just no denying or disputing it!

The moot question that needs to be asked is: How long will it take to implement the most cherished The Advocate Protection Act? I fervently hope that it does not take so long as to overshadow us and we don’t get to hear in our lifetime the most strict implementation of this long pending Act that has long been in hibernation and it is time now to activate it permanently! It definitely now brooks no more delay any longer!

We need to note that Article 296 of The Criminal Code Of The Russian Federation 1996 provides safeguards for the lawyers and persons participating in the administration of justice. It also must be borne in mind that Section 1503 of title 18 of United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1503) provides protection to the officers of the court. It would be also instructive to note that in Egypt, Article 54 of Law No. 17 of 1983 (Advocacy Law) and so also in Indonesia, article 15 of Law No. 18 of 2003 most commendably guarantees protection to the legal profession. It also is of great relevance to note that The Charter of Core Principles of the European Legal Profession of 25 November 2006 provides as principle (a) the independence of the lawyer, and the freedom of the lawyer to pursue the client’s case. It says that A lawyer needs to be free - politically, economically and intellectually - in pursuing his or her activities of advising and representing the client.

This inter alia means that the lawyer must be totally independent of the state and so also other powerful vested interests. Recently, the National Assembly our very close neighbour – Pakistan has also passed a law titled The Lawyers Welfare and Protection Act, 2023 to ensure that the advocates can render professional services without fear or external influence for the ultimate cause of the administration of justice and the rule of law. This clearly implies that more and more countries are now providing special protection to the lawyers who are most important wheel in the administration of justice without whom even Judges cannot do anything! There can be thus just no gainsaying that India must also definitely join these countries due to the growing incidents of attacks on Advocates in India and unwarranted arrests of advocates so that the dignity and decorum of lawyers is also strictly maintained!

a In essence, one has to concede most graciously that the unexpected and unwarranted arrest of Mr Zafar Ali without even an FIR being lodged against him is definitely most concerning and such unwarranted attack on lawyers liberty will beyond an iota of doubt have a very chilling impact on the independence of legal profession as a whole which definitely cannot be allowed to ever go unchecked under any circumstances any longer now! It is truly incomprehensible that why implementation of The Advocate Protection Act has been allowed to fester for such an indefinitely long period of time? But not any more longer now because a lot of water has already flown under the bridge! It definitely now brooks no more delay!

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