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A plea has been moved Supreme Court for issuance of guidelines and directions pertaining to protection of legal fraternity and also to grant ‘X’ category security to the Judicial Officers in their respective States of posting.

The plea is filed apropos the dreaded incident of death (alleged murder) of ADJ Uttam Anand in Dhanbad, Jharkhand when he was out for morning walk.

“The need for judicial immunity has been extremely instrumental in today’s society in this democratic country. The incident of mysterious Death/murder of Justice Uttam Anand of Dhanbad area has paved the way to the issue that is the judiciary of our country threat less and no interfered. Along with this there are various incidents which conclusively proves the fact that the judicial officers of the country as well as the advocates aren’t independent in respect to their professional functioning,” stated the plea.

The plea has been filed by one practising Advocate in Supreme Court of India and a regular member of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Vishal Tiwari against the Union and various State governments.

The plea further averred that, in the recent Dhanbad Death/Murder case the Supreme Court of India had taken  suo motu cognizance of the 'sad demise' of a judge who was allegedly mowed down in Dhanbad and sought a status report within a week from Jharkhand’s Chief Secretary and the DGP on the investigation into the incident. “A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the Jharkhand High Court would keep monitoring the probe. The apex court said it has been taking suo motu cognizance of attacks on judicial officers and legal fraternity across the country.”

The petitioner stated that the , independence of the judiciary is not limited to freedom from executive pressure or influence, but also from undue pressures and influence from other quarters such as business leaders, the police, under trials and convicts.

“History is replete with instances where political clout or death threats have been used to prevent the judiciary from discharging its functions. Keeping the judges exposed not only allows the disgruntled to retaliate, but also allows external forces to interfere, pressure and alter the course of judicial proceedings.”

The petitioner further cited various incidents where the advocates of the legal fraternity who faced the same wrath.

• In July, 2021, a lawyer who was dealing a property issue concerning high stake and such matter was sub judice before the competent court, 15-20 people attacked the lawyer with sharp weapons like swords, knives and tried to kill the advocate
• In February, 2021 incident concerning the disastrous event of Hyderabad based Advocate couple murder named G Vaman Rao and his wife G Nagamani, practioners at the Telengana High Court, were brutally murdered by unidentified individuals in the Pedapalli District of Telengana

[Case title – Vishal Tiwari v. UOI, 2021]