Supreme Court: Even lawyers cannot be prosecuted for criminal offenses

In delivering its verdict in the ‘fake’ SLP case, the Supreme Court today stated that no professional, and certainly no lawyer, is immune from prosecution for his or her criminal misconduct.

“The proceedings conducted in court are held in the utmost sanctity. Any lawyer who signs the Vakalatnamas and documents to be filed in court and any lawyer who represents a party in court, particularly in the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, is deemed to have filed the proceedings and to have performed his appearance with all responsibility and seriousness. No professional, let alone a lawyer, is immune from prosecution for his criminal offences,” said the bench Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma.

To recap, this is the case where the plaintiff denied the filing of a special dispensation application, claiming that the lawyers representing him were unaware of it. The defendants, on the other hand, told the court that the order challenged in the SLP had terminated the criminal proceedings against the sole witness in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case and that the SLP was filed to continue the false charge against him (without the knowledge of the plaintiff).

After a cursory analysis of the case, the bench comprising Justice Trivedi and Justice Sharma held that respondents Nos. 3 and 4 and their associates and counsel were trying to dupe the High Court and the Supreme Court and to jeopardise the entire system of justice by helping them to forge and fabricate the documents to be filed in the Court and to initiate false proceedings in the name of the plaintiff without his knowledge, consent or authority.

Therefore, the Court ordered the Centralised Investigation Bureau to initiate investigations and initiate regular proceedings against all persons involved and responsible after conducting preliminary investigations, if necessary.

In particular, it was also noted that in a democratic constitutional state, citizens assume that criminals are afraid of punishment: “The wrongdoers must fear the law that they will be punished, the innocent must be assured that they will not be punished and the victims must have confidence that justice will be done to them. This is what a citizen of a democratic country like India, where the rule of law prevails, can rightly expect from the courts. The courts are called the ‘temple of justice’…”

You can read further reports on the verdict here.

Case Title: BHAGWAN SINGH v. STATE OF UP | SPECIAL LEAVE APPLICATION (CRIMINAL) Dial No(s). 18885/2024

Quote: 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 722

Click here to read/download the judgment