Lucknow: Taking a serious view of allegations that lawyers and their client were assaulted and prevented from pursuing judicial proceedings inside the Lucknow district court premises, a Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday directed the district judge and the police commissioner to submit detailed reports by 10.15am on Wednesday.A special bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjari Shukla was constituted on the directions of the Allahabad HC chief justice at 7pm on Tuesday to hear the matter urgently. The court observed that if the allegations were found to be true, the incident would not merely amount to a criminal offence but would constitute a grave interference with the administration of justice, which could not be tolerated.The matter was brought before the court through an interim application filed by Delhi-based advocates Abhipsa Mohanty, Komal Agrawal and Ashutosh Srivastava. They alleged that they had reached the Lucknow district court to file a vakalatnama on behalf of their client, Mohammad Shakir, in a civil suit. Since the court concerned was vacant, the matter was transferred to another courtroom. The applicants alleged that advocate Saurabh Kumar Verma and some of his associates prevented them from appearing before the court and, upon their protest, assaulted, abused and threatened them. They further alleged that Shakir was severely beaten and sustained injuries. According to the application, they were warned that they would face consequences for appearing in a case against a fellow advocate and were forced to take shelter in the judge’s chamber before leaving through a staircase.The application stated that the dispute arose from litigation concerning a property. It further alleged that a similar assault had taken place on April 30, 2026, involving another plaintiff, but no effective police action followed.During the hearing, the applicants produced a video of the alleged incident. After viewing it, the bench observed that, prima facie, it appeared that the litigant had been assaulted. Appearing through video conferencing, police commissioner Amarendra Kumar Sengar informed the court that Mohammad Shakir was undergoing medical examination and that a complaint had also been received from the opposite side. The district judge submitted that CCTV footage had been examined and some advocates had been identified.The HC directed the district judge to submit a report along with the CCTV footage and asked the police commissioner to furnish details of the incident, the criminal antecedents of the accused, if any, and the action taken so far. The court also directed the DCP concerned, the officer-in-charge of Wazirganj police station and the injured litigant to remain present during the next hearing. It further ordered that adequate security be provided to the Delhi-based advocates during the pendency of the proceedings.
