The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed lawyers allegedly assaulted during protests against Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Mishra to approach the Delhi high court with a plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and immediate preservation of CCTV footage of the August 20-21 incidents.
“It should not appear as if everything must come to this court and that we have an institutional bias… You can approach the Delhi high court. The bench questioned why the protesting lawyers had not used the legal mechanisms available to them to raise their grievances, while acknowledging their right to protest. “There is not a single issue regarding the BCI that we have not entertained. Had they come before us, perhaps, we would have heard it along with others. The court underlined the higher standards expected of lawyers as officers of the court. Bhushan agreed to withdraw the petition and approach the high court, following which the CJI directed the registry to pass appropriate orders.
The directions came during the hearing of petitions concerning elections to state bar councils, in which a fresh challenge was mounted to Mishra’s continuance as BCI chairman and the validity of notifications purporting to extend the tenure of the chairman and vice-chairman until 2030. The court’s intervention assumes significance against the backdrop of the controversy over the BCI’s intervention in the enrolment of the 2026 graduating batch of NALSAR University of Law.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said that the high court was the appropriate forum as the alleged assaults took place at the BCI office in New Delhi. They can very well deal with your petition,” the bench told advocate Prashant Bhushan, who mentioned the matter for urgent listing on behalf of the group of lawyers. However, you can now approach the high court,” it told Bhushan. “When it comes to the administration of justice, this court has laid down graded response for the officers of the court,” it said. The development came a day after the Supreme Court subjected the functioning of the BCI to a tighter oversight mechanism, directing that the Attorney General for India and Solicitor General be “actively associated” with every policy decision taken by the apex lawyers’ body until its reconstitution through fresh elections.
