Assault on two SCBA members at District Court: SC issues notice to UP Govt. over non-functioning of CCTV cameras in court complex

In a suo moto case concerning the assault on two Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) members at Gautam Budh Nagar District Court during a lawyer’s strike, the Supreme Court (SC) of India expressed concern over the non-functioning of the CCTV cameras in the court complex of Noida. In context to the issue of the non-functioning of the CCTV cameras in the District Court, the bench issued a notice to the State of Uttar Pradesh (UP Govt.). Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra also remarked that “no lawyer can enter a court ask other lawyers to leave the court on the ground of a strike…” During the proceedings, the bench observed, “The Report which we have received from the Shri Avnish Saxena…District judge, Gautam Budh Nagar, be circulated to all the learned counsels of the parties…The report indicates that the CCTV footage is not available because the CCTV cameras in the courts are not functional. Moreover, it has been stated that several written (requests) have been made by the High Court, the administration has not provided sanctioned funds and budget for the maintenance of the CCTV cameras. We direct that notice shall be issued to the State of Uttar Pradesh in these proceedings…We will keep it next Monday (April 8, 2024).”

On March 20, the members of the District Bar Association who were protesting assaulted two SCBA members, Senior Advocate Mr. Gaurav Bhatia and Senior Advocate Ms. Muskan Gupta at Gautam Budh Nagar District Court. Yesterday (April 01) when the SC bench heard the matter, the President of the SCBA, Senior Advocate Dr. Adish C Aggarwala submitted that he had spoken to the District Bar Association’s members and mentioned that they expressed remorse over the incident. The CJI said, “Even if they apologize, we are not going to take it lightly because this…entering the court asking the judge to desist from judicial work and saying that we are going on a strike and so do not do judicial work…we are going to take a serious view of this, because no lawyer can enter a court ask other lawyers to leave the court on the ground of a strike. We will take it very seriously…protest is not strike, protest is certainly a lawful form of protest so as long as people are not prevented from entering the court to argue.” After hearing the matter, the SC of India issued notice to the state of UP regarding the non-functioning of the CCTV cameras in the District court and listed the matter for hearing on April 08 (Monday).