A judge of the Madras High Court was dealing with an anticipatory bail application from an advocate and her lawyer daughter. He made certain remarks against the behaviour of the lawyers with police personnel at public places, and said that he would not be deterred by the posts on social media.
Advance bail petitions from advocate Tanuja Rajan and her daughter Preeti Rajan, residents of Chetpet, Chennai came up yesterday. During the hearing, Justice M Dhandapani said in the open court that unwarranted messages were on circulation in the social media against him for questioning the conduct of lawyers in public places.
The judge warned, “I will not be deterred by such messages and I would not hesitate to act when things take an ugly turn.”
The High Court judge was entertaining bail applications on June 16. During that hearing, he had directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the State unit of the Bar Council of India governing the legal profession, to spell out the mechanism in place to curb such behaviours of the erring lawyers.
Following this, S Haja Mohideen Gisthi, representing the TN Bar Council, filed a status-report before the judge on Thursday.
The status-report said that the Bar Council has been receiving complaints with regard to the ‘professional misconduct’ of certain lawyers only.
This is the first time that the Bar Council of TN has received complaints against two women lawyers. The complaints came from the DCP, Flower Bazaar and the Kilpauk police.
Notices have been issued to the two advocates seeking their explanation. The notices added that disciplinary committee attached to the Bar Council would proceed with the complaints as per the provisions of the Advocates Act.
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The judge asserted that lawyers belong to a noble profession. He further explained that lawyers cannot enter into a street fight with everyone on the road even if the other person is on the wrong side. Regardless of the normative, instances have come to the notice of this court where the legal fraternity has also indulged in some high-handed activity against the law enforcing agency.
The judge had observed on June 16 that it is a harsh reality that instances of such nature by the members of the legal fraternity are on the increase.
Complaints against lawyers are increasing with each passing day, the judge noted. Additionally, videos are being circulated, the judge added and posted the matter for orders on Friday.
