City not safe for anyone if lawyers can be assaulted: Patna High Court

The city of Patna appears to not be safe for anyone to live in, if lawyers can be attacked by goons late at night, observed the Patna High Court recently..The Court made the remark while condemning the Jakkanpur police at Patna for failing to properly respond to an advocate's complaint that he and a fellow lawyer were attacked with a kitchen knife by his landlord and his associates.Justice Bibek Chaudhuri pulled up the police for showing biases towards the landlord and registering a criminal complaint citing relatively minor offences despite allegations that the accused landlord used a sharp weapon to attack the advocates."If, in the city of Patna, the Advocates are assaulted by some goons at about 10:00 P.M., this Court cannot accept the incident as an isolated incident, but prima facie holds that the city is not a safe place for any people to reside," the judge added. .The Court was hearing a plea filed by one advocate Abhishek Kumar Srivastava. He had lodged an first information report (FIR) against his landlord and certain individuals in Jakkanpur locality, Patna. Kumar accused them of stabbing him over a minor dispute. A fellow lawyer was also alleged to have been injured in the attack. .The High Court was told that the police were initially reluctant to register an FIR in the matter. Later, an FIR was filed but only cited Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and Section 323 (hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as the alleged offences. The Court questioned why more serious charges such as Section 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (grievous hurt) were not cited when the allegations were far more grave than a case of simple hurt. "When the F.I.R. discloses that the unarmed young persons pursuing their profession as Advocates, were attacked by the landlord with a bunch of anti-socials and specially, when one of the Advocate was assaulted by sharp cutting weapon on the most vital part of the body, why on due consideration of the prima facie intention of the accused persons, no case under Section 307 of the I.P.C. was instituted?" the Court remarked. The Court also questioned the failure to invoke provisions that punish acts by unlawful assemblies, in view of the allegation that the attack on the advocates was carried out by a group of assailants (including the landlord)..The Court proceeded to order the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) at Patna to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter instead of the Jakkanpur Police. "The very registration of case presumably suggests that the Police authority attached to Jakkanpur Police Station has taken the side of respondent no. 9 being the landlord to this unfortunate junior Advocates. Therefore, this Court considers it absolutely necessary to releave the Police Officer attached the Jakkanpur Police Station of the investigation of the cases filed both by the petitioner and the wife of the landlord," the Court said..The incident in question occurred late night on March 1, 2024. An altercation is said to have taken place between Kumar and his fellow tenants, who were also advocates residing in the same rented accommodation.The argument initially arose over a parking dispute. Subsequently, the landlord, along with some unidentified individuals, allegedly attacked the advocates. It was claimed that, during the assault, Abhishek Kumar Srivastava (petitioner-advocate) was injured, while his friend and advocate, Ranveer Rarwat, sustained severe injuries, including a bleeding wound on the left eyebrow..After a criminal complaint was filed by the lawyers over the attacked, the landlord was summoned by the police but released thereafter under Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).However, another complaint was lodged by the landlord's wife thereafter accusing the lawyers of committing the offence under Section 354 (outraging woman's modesty) of the IPC. The petitioner argued that this was part of an effort to protect the landlord and the other assailants implicated for assaulting the advocates..The alleged attack on the advocates and the seemingly biased response of the police were brought to the High Court's attention on March 5, which expressed serious concern about these allegations."When from the facts and circumstances, it is ascertained that some young Advocates residing in a tenanted flat have been pursuing their profession in their initial stage, this Court is absolutely clueless to note as to why one or two of them would be assaulted by the landlord and his associates, under whom they stay," the Court observed..The Court proceeded to order an SIT investigation into the matter. The SIT is to consist of the SSP and two other officers holding ranks not lower than that of Sub-Divisional Police Officer. To ensure that the probe is impartial, the Court emphasized that these SIT officers should have no connections to the Jakkanpur Police Station. Furthermore, the Court has directed the SSP to preserve the CCTV footage from both the locality where the alleged incident took place and the Jakkanpur Police Station..Advocate Ravi Raj appeared for the petitioner.Additional Advocates General PK Verma and Saroj Kumar Sharma represented the State authorities. .[Read Order]