Karnataka High Court initiates suo motu PIL on violence against advocates

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday initiated a suo motu PIL petition on the spate of violence against advocates in the State, including the murders of advocates Sriram V. on October 9, and Manjunath on October 18, and the attempted murder of advocate Venkataramanappa Sannakki of Gauribidanur on October 28.

A Division Bench of Justices D.K. Singh and H. Shanthi Bhushan acted on representations from the Advocates’ Association, Bengaluru, and the Karnataka State Bar Council, which highlighted increasing incidents of violence, assaults, threats and murders of lawyers.

The Bench took note of serious grievances raised by the association against police functioning, alleging that police stations were acting as “parallel courts” by settling civil disputes — property, possession and contractual matters — without statutory authority, in violation of Supreme Court judgments, and alleged disrespectful treatment of advocates at police stations, including not being offered even a chair.

While ordering issue of notice to the State government, the Bench directed the government to place on record the measures proposed for strengthening the statutory protection available to advocates and the mechanism contemplated for dealing with complaints made by advocates against police personnel.

The Bench also sought case-wise details of every advocate murdered in the State, including FIR particulars, arrests, material collected, charge sheet status and reasons for delay.