Delhi Bar Council writes to MHA seeking immediate action against police raid at lawyer Mehmood Pracha’s office

New Delhi, December 27: The Bar Council of Delhi has objected to the recent raid conducted by Delhi Police on the office of advocate Mehmood Pracha in connection with northeast Delhi riots.

The police searched the premises of two members of the bar – Mehmood Pracha and Javed Ali — on Thursday in a case related to the alleged use of forged documents as genuine in judicial records in a northeast Delhi riots case.

The Bar Council of Delhi has written to the Union Home Ministry seeking immediate action in the wake of the cases against advocates Javed Ali and Mehmood Pracha and the search at their offices a few days ago, India Today reported.

The search was conducted by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police after getting the court’s approval.

According to the police, two teams were sent to Nizamuddin and Yamuna Vihar. One of the teams completed its task with the cooperation of Ali, who is a lawyer at Yamuna Vihar, but the members of the other team were allegedly heckled, obstructed and verbally abused by Pracha and his associates at Nizamuddin West, the police said.

Delhi Bar Council has said that in this case, they are not going into the depth of facts-related information, but the 15-hour search conducted by the police inside the lawyer’s office is against the understanding between the representatives of the Bar Association/Bar Council and the Delhi police that in case of any case against an advocate, the Bar Association/Bar Council representatives will be informed and taken into confidence.

In the letter, the Delhi Bar Council sought to bring to the notice of the Home Ministry two important aspects of the matter in the eyes of the law. “Firstly, sections 126 to 129 of the Indian Evidence Act, which contains the privileges to a legal practitioner in so far as the communications to his client is concerned, which fall within the category of privileged communications.”

“The attention of the Ministry is invited to the Bar Council of India Rules in this behalf, particularly Rule 17 of Part VI, Chapter 2 Section 11, which provides that an advocate shall not, directly or indirectly, commit a breach of the obligations imposed by section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act,” the letter stated.

“We think the provisions of law cannot be ignored,” it further read.

“Secondly, it is pointed out that there has been an understanding between the representatives of the Bar Association/Bar Council and the Delhi police that in case of any case against an advocate, the Bar Association/Bar Council representatives will be informed and taken into confidence. This broader understanding is to maintain harmony and cordiality between two wings of justice delivery system. It is pointed out that this has not been followed in the present case. 

While we do not want to go to the various aspects of the matter, apparently the action of the Delhi Police falls short on these aspects, which is a very serious matter as far as the legal community is concerned,” the letter stated.

It further highlighted the “anguish and anger among the legal community”, primarily because it goes to the “very root an independent discharge of responsibility by an advocate” and called for immediate action.

The Delhi Police on Saturday filed an FIR against Mehmood Pracha for allegedly misbehaving with cops and obstructing them from performing their duty.

The FIR was filed at Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin police station under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/delhi-bar-council-letter-home-ministry-advocate-mehmood-pracha-raid-office-delhi-police-1753611-2020-12-27