Delhi District Court Bar Associations to abstain from work tomorrow in protest against conviction of Rajiv Khosla

The Co-ordination committee of All District Court Bar Associations of Delhi on Monday resolved to abstain from work tomorrow in protest against conviction of Rajiv Khosla, former Delhi High Court Bar Association President for assault of a woman lawyer in 1994. .The resolution was passed at a meeting held by the Co-ordination Committee at the Tis Hazari court complex. The Co-ordination Committee stated in its resolution that the judgement passed by the Delhi court convicting Khosla, is biased and against all the cardinal principal of criminal jurisprudence.."All members of the Co-ordination Committee unanimously resolved to go on a complete abstinence of work in all District Courts for one day i.e. November 9, 2021 and also resolved to have a meeting with the Hon'ble Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to discuss the above said matter", the resolution said..It further stated that if the matter is still unresolved post their abstinence of work and meeting with Chief Justice DN Patel, the committee will go on an indefinite boycott of the court of judge who passed the verdict against Khosla."The Committee further resolved that in case the matter is not resolved after meeting with Hon'ble Chief Justice of Delhi High court. The Committee will observe a complete and indefinite boycott of the court of concerned judicial officer.".Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Central District, Tis Hazari Court, Gajender Singh Nagar had held Khosla guilty of offences under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC more than 27 years after lawyer Sujata Kohli filed a complaint against Khosla.The incident dated back to August 1994 when Kohli accused Khosla, then secretary of Delhi Bar Association (DBA) of pressurizing her to join various protests and demonstrations.Kohli told the court that she had a seat at the bar association library in Tis Hazari lawyers' complex. She added that while she favoured setting up of family courts, Khosla opposed it and on July 29, 1994 she was asked to attend a seminar on family courts but she declined stating that she was busy. Khosla however, threatened her and said that all the facilities provided to her would be taken away.She filed a civil suit seeking injunction but soon after that, her table and chair at the court complex were removed from its spot.In August 1994 she moved an application for changing the nature of the suit from permanent injunction to mandatory injunction. Though the court asked the parties to maintain status quo, the Civil Judge said that she would also visit the site on the same day. While the complainant was waiting on her seat for the judge, Khosla arrived with another co-accused named PS Rathi and a mob of 40-50 people, pulled Kohli by her hair, twisted her arms and dragged her while also hurling abuses and threats. A complaint was then filed but the police registered a case only five days later at Subzi Mandi police station, it was alleged.The complainant herself had later become a judge with the Delhi judiciary..[Read Resolution]