A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a direction to bring closure to a controversy related to a raid conducted by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the residence-cum-office of a woman advocate wherein the NIA team seized her mobile phone. Consequently, members of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association have decided to abstain from work till her mobile phone is returned.
The matter came up for hearing before the division bench of Justice Augustine George Masih and Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa on Thursday. The PIL was filed by Arvind Seth, an advocate practising in the high court, against the Union government, Director General of NIA, Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, and Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association.
As the counsel for the respondents sought time to seek complete instructions, the high court listed the matter for next hearing on November 7.
Seth – a member of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, Chandigarh – contended before the high court that he had filed the PIL due to NIA’s illegal action against Dr Shelly Sharma, a practising lawyer of the high court. Seth also termed NIA’s raid on Sharma’s house-cum-office “arbitrary”. Sharma is also a member of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association.
Seth sought directions to the Director General of NIA not to harass the advocates practising in the high court and UT Court of Chandigarh on the pretext of investigation. He also sought directions to the respondents to take remedial steps for resolving the controversy at the earliest.
Seth submitted that a general house meeting of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association was held on October 31, and it was decided in the meeting that members of the Bar association would abstain from work till Sharma’s mobile phone is returned to her.
Hence, he moved the high court and filed the PIL.
Appearing on behalf of the Union government and the NIA, Additional Solicitor General of India, Satya Pal Jain, and Advocate Dheeraj Jain submitted before the high court that the NIA had registered a case on August 26 and as part of its investigation, the probe agency conducted searches at various places, wherein four lawyers were allegedly found involved in it. Among the four lawyers, one was arrested in Delhi, while the other three belong to Chandigarh, Gurugram and Bathinda.
Jain submitted that the mobile phone of the Chandigarh woman lawyer (Sharma) was seized and a memo regarding the seizure was handed over to her. The phone was submitted to the Delhi NIA court, which further directed for analysing the data of the phone. And it will take time for the NIA to analyse it, Jain submitted.
Since the mobile phone is a court property now, only the court can order for its release. And for releasing the phone, an application can be filed before the special NIA court of Delhi, Jain further submitted.
For the uninitiated, Advocate Sharma has been representing cases defending gangsters, including Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, an A+ category gangster in Punjab. The advocate had been reportedly questioned by NIA as to why she was handling cases of gangsters and why they only come to her to represent their cases in courts.
