The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday put up four questions/issues, observing that they require consideration by the Court, While hearing the matter related to the police assault on an advocate in Etah.
The division bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery passed this order while hearing a criminal writ PIL filed In Re suo motu cognizance of police atrocities over an advocate.
On going through the complete report given by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Etah and the other material available on record, we are of the opinion that this Petition for Writ requires consideration on following issues:‐
(i) Whether a police team is having any authority to use unlawful force while arresting a person who has been assigned for taking law in hands when police tried to arrest him.
(ii) Can the police be used as an agency to dispossess a person from possession of an immovable property or to restore possession of a property with a person on having a report with allegation of unlawful possession or unlawful dispossession of such person from such property.
(iii) Whether the administrative authorities including the police authorities are well within their rights to get a person evicted from the premises against whom a decree has been granted by a competent Court, without there being any order in execution proceedings by executing Court.
(iv) Whether the Advocates Act, 1961 extends any privilege to an advocate for being not taken any coercive action by the Police against him, if he is in prescribed robes.
The advocates for the rival parties shall address the Court on the issues referred above and thereafter, the Petition was listed for further hearing on February 2, 2021.
The Court said that it was not inclined to accept the request made by advocates appearing in the matter, for change of investigating agency.
The Court has noted that the Uttar Pradesh State Bar Council had sent a sealed envelope to the Court requesting to get the entire matter investigated by some independent agency like Central Bureau of Investigation or Crime Branch of Crime Investigation Department.