The Supreme Court on Thursday initiated suo motu proceedings and issued notice in manhandling and snatching the band of Senior Advocate and BJP Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia at a Noida court on Wednesday.
The case was mentioned before the bench of CJI DY Chandrachud. The court after hearing the lawyers said there is no reason why this Court should not accept what is placed on the record.
"Ordinarily, we would have insisted on a petition. But the attack on two members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) is serious. We accordingly direct the Register to register a suo motu writ petition. Notice shall be issued to the President, Secretary of the Jan path Diwani Bar Association Gautam Budh Nagar returnable on April 1," the bench said.
The bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud directed the District Judge of Gautam Budh Nagar to ensure that the CCTV footage of the incident is in safe custody pending further orders.
The bench has further said that the District Judge should submit a report to the Supreme Court on the incident.
"District Judge shall also obtain a report from the administrative staff attached to Court 8 in whose court Ms Muskan Gupta has alleged the manhandling took place," the court ruled.
A woman advocate Muskan Gupta who was also manhandled along with Bhatia, told the top court that she was to appear in the court no.8 at the District Court complex. However, she was asked to seek adjournment when a group of lawyers entered the court and asked her to remove the band and leave the court. She has told the court that she was physically manhandled.
The CJI while passing the order also said that the Supreme Court has deprecated strikes by bar associations on several occasions.
"Reasons for this is members of the bar represent individual litigants involving their grievances. Hence a strike by the members of the bar immediately affects the litigants who are the most vital stakeholder." CJI said.