Police Cannot Summon an Advocate of Accused to Police Station: Kerala HC

It is ostensibly in the fitness of things that while striking the right chord, the Kerala High Court in a most learned, laudable, logical and latest judgment styled Ajitkumar KK vs The State of Kerala & Anr. in WP(Crl.) 361 of 2023 and cited in Neutral Citation No.: 2023:KER:26581 that was finally heard on 27.3.2023 and judgment pronounced on same day has made it clear in most unmistakable terms that the police cannot issue a summons to an advocate in his professional capacity who is appearing for the accused in a crime.

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It also observed clearly that police's power provided under Section 179(1) of BNSS cannot be stretched to call for an advocate – who is appearing for the accused in the crime – so as to divulge information shared between him and the client. Very rightly so!

At the very outset, this brief, brilliant, bold and balanced judgment authored by a Single Judge Bench comprising of Hon'ble Dr. Justice Kauser Edappagath of the Kerala High Court at Ernakulam sets the ball in motion by first and foremost putting forth in para 1 that,

"The petitioner, a practising advocate, was served with a notice under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'BNSS'), calling upon him to appear before the investigating officer in a crime in which he represent-ed, as accused in the Magistrate Court on a bail application under strange procedure unheard of in criminal investigation."

To put things in perspective, the Bench envisages in para 2 that,

"The Njarakkal Police registered a crime as Crime No.157 of 2023 against a husband and wife alleging that they forged documents as their documents such as their Aadhar Cards, Election Identity Cards, Driving Licence etc., to falsely estab-lish their Indian citizenship and thus committed the offences punishable under Sections 356(2) and 368(2) of the Bharatiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'BNS'), as well as Sections 14A, 14(b) and 14(c) of the Foreigners Act. The petition-er filed a bail application for the accused before the First-Class Judicial Magistrate Court, Njarakkal. The bail application was dis-missed.