Supreme Court raps lawyers for boycott of Ryan accused

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the bar association of the Gurgaon district courts for passing a resolution calling upon lawyers to not defend the accused in the murder of a sevenyear-old student at Ryan International School.

A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, warned local lawyers against preventing the advocates of the accused from appearing in court and defending them. Any accused has the right to be heard and represented by the lawyers of his choice, the court observed. Apart from the school-bus conductor who is accused of murdering the student, a few school officials were also arrested in the case for their alleged negligence.

One of the officials, the head of Ryan’s northern zone, Francis Thomas, had sought the transfer of his case to a Delhi court due to the local lawyers’ decision. Appearing for him in the Supreme Court, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi claimed that Thomas’ lawyer Sandip Kapur was prevented from appearing in the Gurgaon court. As a result, his wife had to appear personally in court and move a plea for bail, Rohatgi said.

The CJI, who was sitting alongside Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, expressed his concern over the action by the bar. This is not in keeping with the tradition of the bar, the CJI said.

He, however, recorded the fact that the bar association had since withdrawn the resolution, and dismissed the petition with a warning to the lawyers not to resort to such acts in future.