The Bar Council of India (BCI) on July 2 came up with the highly anticipated draft Advocates (Protection) Bill, 2021 (hereinafter to be referred to as ‘the Bill’). The BCI is a statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961 which regulates legal practice and legal education in India. A committee comprising seven members namely Sr. Advocate S. Prabakaran, Sr. Advocate Debi Prasad Dhal, Co-Chairman Mr. Suresh Chandra Shrimali, Mr. Shailendra Dubey, Mr. A. Rami Reddy, Mr. Shreenath Tripathi and Mr. Prashant Kumar Singh were appointed so as to frame the bill keeping in mind the problems and difficulties faced by the advocates and their families in recent times.

There was a dire need for such a bill as there were spike in assaults, kidnappings, intimidation, and continuous threats against advocates. When the security of lawyers is jeopardized as a result of their work, the government must provide the necessary protection. The Bill was also introduced to put into effect the United Nations’ 8th Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (1990), to which India was a participant[1]. In total, the bill contains 16 sections. The committee under section 2 of the Bill has kept the definition of ‘Advocate’ same as was there in the Advocates Act, 1961. The same section also defines ‘Acts of violence’. The ‘Act of Violence’ includes all those acts which intent to prejudice or derail the process of impartial, fair, and fearless litigation. In addition to these, ‘acts’ such as threat, harassment, coercion, assault, malicious prosecution, criminal force, harm, hurt, injury which affects the lifestyle or the working conditions of advocates are mentioned in the Bill. Plus, these offences are of cognizable and non-bailable nature.

Sections 3 & 4 has punishment & restitutions just like in the Advocates’ Act, 1961. The term of punishment is six months which can be extended to five years or ten years depending upon the type of offence. Minimum fine is INR 50,000 which can be extended to INR 1 lakh, for the first offense, while fines for subsequent offenses can reach Rs.10 lakhs. The law recommends that investigation should not be conducted below the level of Superintendent of Police and the investigation must be finished within 30 days of the FIR being filed. Furthermore, the bill also mentioned the right of police protection to advocates, upon proper investigation by the court.

A legal action should not be brought against a lawyer who has been acting in good faith. All communications between the advocates and their clients must be respected and must be confidential. According to section 11, an Advocate shall not be arrested by any police officer nor the police will investigate any case against the advocate without the specific order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. Upon receiving information from an advocate, the Officer-in-Charge of a Police Station shall enter the information in a book to be kept by such officer, and refer the information and other related materials to the nearest Chief Judicial Magistrate. The Chief Judicial Magistrate concerned shall hold a preliminary inquiry into the case and issue notice to the advocate so as to give an opportunity of being heard. The advocate will be granted bail if it was found that the FIR was brought for malicious reasons.

Every month, a minimum of Rs.15,000 must be provided as financial help to all needy Advocates in the country in case there is unanticipated emergencies such as natural catastrophes or epidemics.

Section 12 of the bill provides that if any public servant having the power to investigate or arrest under CrPC, is found in possession of or found to use any privileged communication or material which can be shown to be obtained from an advocate in his investigation, it shall be presumed that such privileged communication or material was obtained by such public servant by coercion[2].

CONCLUSION

The “Advocates Protection Bill”, if passed by the Parliament will ensure adequate protection to members of the legal fraternity, so that they can carry on their duties as officers of the court, fearlessly without having to worry about their and their family’s social and physical safety[3].

[1] Hrishika Rawat- Advocate Protection Bill 2021: An Overview, The Law Communicants | A Legal Tech Platform, visited on 18-08-2021 at 16:10hrs.

[2] Priyangshu Nag Chowdhury-ADVOCATES PROTECTION BILL 2021, Advocates Protection Bill 2021 – Aishwarya Sandeep, visited on 18-08-2021 at 19:01hrs.

[3] Hrishika Rawat- Advocate Protection Bill 2021: An Overview, The Law Communicants | A Legal Tech Platform , visited on 18-08-2021 at 19:09hrs.

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