SC notice to Bar on security for woman lawyers

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Bar Council of India (BCI) on a plea for taking social security measures for women lawyers.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose sought a response from the regulatory body of the advocates on a PIL filed by a women lawyer, Indu Kaul.

Advocate Kumud Lata Das, appearing for Kaul, argued that there was no security for the women lawyers in the court premises. She pointed out to the incident in which a woman advocate was sexually assaulted by a male colleague.

The court, however, noted that dealing with such a plea would be an "unwieldy" exercise as all states would be required to respond.

The counsel said there should be a direction to the BCI to provide social security measures and financial assistance to the women advocates as per the Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 2001.

The court then agreed to examine the matter.

Last month Kaul sought a direction to the Centre, Uttar Pradesh government and the regulatory body of advocates, the BCI to pay compensation to the family members of advocate of Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh chairperson Darvesh Yadav, who was shot dead during the days of her election, in Agra court premises on June 12 by her male colleague.

The court had then asked to approach the jurisdictional high court.

She had claimed, “The condition of lady advocates is vulnerable in all courts across the country. A lady advocate has to fight her illness, old age, family conditions throughout her life, as there are no social security measures provided by the Bar Councils or associations.”