Lucknow, Sep 3 The Allahabad High Court has entrusted Uttar Pradesh Police's Intelligence Department with a confidential inquiry into the background and activities of lawyers allegedly involved in the July 21 assault on a litigant and his lawyers in the district court here.
The inquiry will be conducted under the supervision of the Director General of Police (Intelligence). The bench has fixed September 15 for further hearing in the matter.
A division bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla passed the order on Wednesday, modifying its July 28 order by which it had directed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to conduct the inquiry against the lawyers allegedly involved in the assault.
Additional Solicitor General S B Pandey, appearing for the Centre, submitted that the functions and nature of the IB were different and that the nature of inquiry directed by the court in its July 28 order did not fall within the agency's jurisdiction.
Accepting the submission, the bench directed that the confidential inquiry be conducted by the state police's Intelligence Department. The court office was also directed to implead the DGP (Intelligence), Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, as a party to the proceedings.
The bench further directed the government counsel, V K Singh, who was present in court, to communicate the order to the DGP (Intelligence).
The court had earlier directed that affidavits and details concerning the lawyers allegedly involved in the incident be placed on record.
During Wednesday's hearing, the bench noted that the affidavits and disclosures sought from the concerned lawyers had not yet been filed. It said the issue would be considered in the next hearing.
The bench also took on record two counter-affidavits filed by the Police Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner of Police.
On July 21, a local litigant and lawyers from Delhi were assaulted inside the Lucknow district court premises. There were also allegations of obstruction of judicial proceedings.
Taking serious note of the incident, the high court had initiated suo motu proceedings and directed a detailed inquiry into the allegations and the background of the lawyers allegedly involved in the incident.
