File status report on Advocates Protection Bill: HC to Delhi govt

“After receipt of support from the Central Government (L-G), the draught Bill whitethorn beryllium laid earlier the Legislative Assembly of Delhi for its consideration. In lawsuit the Bill is passed by the Legislative Assembly of Delhi, the aforesaid is required to beryllium reserved by Hon’ble Lt. Governor for seeking assent of His Excellency, the President of India…,” said the presumption report.

Delhi, meanwhile, is acceptable for a hectic 3 months — Assembly polls are slated aboriginal adjacent twelvemonth and the Model Code of Conduct whitethorn footwear successful by mid-November.

“The measure has already been delayed… it indispensable beryllium expedited astatine the earliest,” said advocator K C Mittal, who is representing the coordination committee (of each territory tribunal barroom associations) which prepared the archetypal draught of the Bill.

“This measure is the request of the hour… we privation it to beryllium passed astatine the earliest,” said Advocate Jagdeep Vats, president of the committee.

The petition being heard successful the HC was filed by advocates Deepa Joseph and Alpha Phiris, seeking directions to the Centre and the Delhi authorities to see enacting the Advocates Protection Act successful Delhi.

Mittal told The Indian Express that Rajasthan is the lone authorities successful the state that has enacted a instrumentality granting extortion to advocates.

The contented of information successful courts has been wide debated implicit the past fewer years, aft respective incidents of unit successful the courtroom, arsenic good arsenic against lawyers, were reported. Earlier this week, respective videos of a territory tribunal successful Ghaziabad surfaced which showed constabulary unit hitting advocates with laathis successful a jam-packed courtroom. In October 2021, 2 equipped men posing arsenic lawyers killed gangster Jitender Gogi wrong a courtroom successful Rohini earlier being gunned down by constabulary personnel.

In an bid passed connected May 25 past year, the HC had directed the GNCTD to record a presumption study astir the archetypal draught of the Delhi Advocates’ Protection Bill. This was sent to the Law Minister and the Delhi CM. Following this, the last draught was prepared by the Law Department.
The draught prepared by the coordination committee recommended constabulary protection, compensation, extortion of enactment successful owed behaviour of duties by advocates, extortion from amerciable arrests, and enactment of grievance redressal committees.