Lawyers must behave decently to opponents: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has ruled that a lawyer’s duty to act decently inside court premises extends not only to his own client but also to opposing lawyers and the parties he appears…
The Story in Brief
The Supreme Court has ruled that a lawyer’s duty to act decently inside court premises extends not only to his own client but also to opposing lawyers and the parties he appears against. A Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar modified a Bar Council of India (BCI) order that had suspended advocate Sudhendu Prakash Gautam for one year for allegedly assaulting and threatening a litigant inside a Delhi Labour Court in 2005.
The Court found that Gautam was not given a proper hearing before the suspension, but declined to send the case back to the BCI because nearly 21 years had passed. It issued a warning instead, while holding that a lawyer’s indecent behaviour is a valid ground for misconduct proceedings irrespective of whether the victim is the lawyer’s own client.
The Indian Opinion
This ruling rightly scotches the lazy view that a lawyer's duty of decency is only towards his own client, a notion that allowed the Bar Council of Delhi to initially dismiss the complaint. But the Supreme Court’s substitution of a one-year suspension with just a warning, despite upholding the principle, risks sending a signal that procedural lapses can let serious misconduct go lightly. The test now is whether Bar Councils will proactively initiate misconduct cases when lawyers assault litigants, or wait for a criminal conviction that may never come.
Source: barandbench.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
