The Bar leaders denied the allegation of manhandling, saying it was just a “verbal duel between the lawyers and the judge”. Additional District Judge Pankaj Gupta, who presides over the court dealing with the cases under the Hindu Marriage Act at Rohini district courts, was slapped and manhandled by a group of lawyers, Delhi Judicial Officers Association said in a press release.
“One lawyer started obstructing the judicial functioning when the Judge was making an inquiry with regard to a fictitious petition filed before him. The Judge called upon the lawyer not to interfere in his inquiry. “The enraged lawyer went out and came back with a group of lawyers. First, they abused the judge and thereafter attempted to climb the dais and when the staff of the court tried to stop them, they thrashed the staff. They then slapped the judge and asked him to stand by the wall and again slapped and beat him,” the Association said.
B S Rana, Chairperson of Bar Council of Delhi, denied the charge saying “according to my information, the judge was not assaulted. It was merely a verbal altercation.”
The Judges’ body condemned the incident and said they would seek an appointment with the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to express “the insecurity felt by the judicial officers and to make a request to take appropriate remedial measures in respect of safety and security to avoid recurrence of such incident.”
An urgent meeting of Delhi Judicial Service Association and Delhi Higher Judicial Service Association was convened within hours of the incident at Tis Hazari courts complex here.
Hooliganism on rise
In an unanimous resolution, they said such acts of hooliganism was on the rise and it had gone to the extent of physically assaulting a judge.
The judges’ associations also decided to convene a general body meeting to decide their future course of action.
