Police Can't Act Strongly With Lawyers: Rajasthan High Court

It is absolutely in the fitness of things that while striking the right chord, the Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur in a most learned, laudable, landmark, logical and latest judgment titled Rajasthan High Court Advocates' Association, Jodhpur through the Secretary & Ors. vs State of Rajasthan through the Secretary & Ors. in D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 23646/2025 that was pronounced just recently on 02/12/2025 in a crucial step took suo motu cognizance most commendably of gross misbehavior and mishandling of a lawyer by the State House Officer ('SHO') after a viral video showed a lawyer being assaulted by a Jodhpur SHO and made it crystal clear that police can't act strongly with lawyers.

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It must be noted that the Division Bench comprising of Hon'ble The Chief Justice Mr Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Hon'ble Mr Justice Baljinder Singh Sandhu took suo motu cognizance of it and in no uncertain terms while strongly condemning the whole unseemly incident held that the incident is most unfortunate and that the lawyer community has been agitated by it. It was underscored by the Division Bench that advocates and police are essential partners in the justice system and must work with mutual respect.

It is worth paying attention that the suo motu proceedings started after senior advocate Dr. Sachin Acharya, an elected Member of Bar Council of Rajasthan has made a mention of the news item which has been published today in the daily newspaper 'Dainik Bhaskar' relating to manhandling and misbehaviour by the SHO, Police Station, Kudi Bhagtasani, Jodhpur. It is stated that a lawyer namely Mr. Bharat Singh Rathore with his wife who is a lady lawyer of this Court had gone to the Police Station along with rape victim who was the prosecutrix. One person in civilian clothes recording the victim's statement improperly without following any proper legal procedure.

When Advocate Bharat and his wife raised serious concerns and reservations of this shoddy process, the SHO allegedly:

- Misbehaved with and assaulted without any provocation Advocate Bharat.

- Locked him inside a room.

- Told the victim not to protest.

- And a lady constable then attempted to remove his wife from the premises.

As it turned out, a video of this confrontation went viral and was shown in Jodhpur High Court. While taking immediate serious note of this imbroglio, the Division Bench promptly summoned:

- Commissioner of Police, Jodhpur - Mr. Om Prakash

- Deputy Commissioner of Police (West)

- Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police