Bar-Bench Face-Off: Allahabad HCBA Urges Awadh Bar To Intervene, Stop Justice Deshwal From Hearing Cases

The Allahabad High Court Bar Association has approached the newly elected office-bearers of the Awadh Bar Association, Lucknow Bench, seeking their intervention to ensure that Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal is restrained from judicial proceedings over his October 28 and 29 orders concerning the ongoing Bar-Bench confrontation at the high court.

In a letter dated October 31, signed by newly elected association president Senior Advocate Dr C.P. Upadhyay and general secretary Santosh Kumar Mishra, the association alleged that the two orders passed by Justice Deshwal were directly against the advocate community and tarnished its image.

The representation was addressed separately to the chairman of the Awadh Bar Association and its newly elected president and general secretary.

Referring to the orders passed in Devendra Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh (Bail Application No. 32917 of 2026) on October 28 and Ankit Singh alias Anant Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (Bail Application No. 36572 of 2026) on October 29, the association alleged that the judge had attempted to create differences among advocates through his observations.

"In the order dated 29.10.2026, the Hon'ble Judge made every possible effort to create differences among us advocates, which is highly condemnable," the letter stated.

The association further claimed that advocates at the Allahabad High Court had protested against the two orders, following which Justice Deshwal could not sit in his courtroom on both days.

It requested the Awadh Bar Association to take appropriate steps to ensure that the judge was restrained from judicial proceedings, adding that the interests and dignity of advocates should not be adversely affected.

The latest representation comes amid an escalating confrontation between the Bar and Bench at the Allahabad High Court, which began with an incident in the courtroom of Justice Ajay Bhanot on October 27 where a dispute arose over the seating arrangement of a police officer in Court No. 49.

Allegedly, a Superintendent of Police was occupying a seat in the row behind the Additional Government Advocate. When an advocate objected to the officer occupying that seat, the Additional Government Advocate allegedly intervened and complained to Justice Bhanot after he entered the courtroom.

The association claimed that Justice Bhanot subsequently reprimanded the advocate, threatened to send him to jail and directed him to apologise to the police officer. It also alleged that the judge made mocking remarks against Senior Advocate V.P. Srivastava, who was present in the courtroom.

Objecting to the alleged conduct, the association had sought the Chief Justice's intervention and warned that its members would boycott Justice Bhanot's courtroom if appropriate action was not taken.

The following day, October 28, the confrontation escalated when a group of lawyers allegedly raised slogans and disrupted proceedings in Justice Bhanot's courtroom. Visuals of lawyers throwing chairs and overturning furniture inside the courtroom also surfaced.

Meanwhile, Justice Deshwal took serious exception to the disruption caused by advocates outside his courtroom and penned it down in his orders.