India’s Supreme Court has sharply criticized the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa for pursuing what it called a “malicious prosecution” against advocate Geeta Ramanugrah Shastri. All she did was identify the opposing party in an affidavit, yet the council dragged her through unnecessary disciplinary proceedings.
On Wednesday, a bench led by Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta dismissed special leave petitions filed against a Bombay High Court ruling. That earlier decision had thrown out the complaints targeting Shastri. The Supreme Court went further, slapping fines of Rs. 50,000 each on the Bar Council and the complainant for causing her “immeasurable grief and harassment.”
The trouble started in a dispute between Bansidhar Annaji Bhakad, a former lecturer at Ismail Yusuf Junior College, and the college itself. Bhakad accused Shastri of backing false statements in a chamber summons affidavit by attesting to it. He claimed the affidavit’s details turned out to be untrue, so Shastri’s role made her complicit in a false deposition.
But the Bombay High Court disagreed. It quashed the complaint, pointing out that Shastri never swore to the affidavit herself. She simply identified the person who did, so she couldn’t be held accountable for its contents.
The Supreme Court backed this view completely. “An advocate, by mere attestation of the affidavit, does not become privy to the contents,” the bench stated. It described Bhakad’s complaint as “wholly absurd and untenable,” full of “malicious and spiteful insinuations” just because Shastri identified the other side.
The justices didn’t hold back on the Bar Council either. They called its decision to register the complaint and send it to a disciplinary committee “illegal” and “bordering on perversity.” This was clearly a case of malicious prosecution driven by the opposing litigant, the court said.
To make things right, the Supreme Court ordered the fines deposited with the Bombay High Court registry within four weeks. From there, the money will go directly to Shastri as compensation.
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