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Punjab and Haryana bar council indicts retired judge’s son in bribery case
Punjab and Haryana bar council also ordered licence cancellation of the indicted lawyer and a criminal case against him; he had allegedly told four murder convicts that he can help secure acquittal as he knew the judge
The Bar council of Punjab and Haryana has indicted a lawyer for receiving bribe to help secure acquittal to four persons in a murder case.
The lawyer, identified as Jaswinder Singh, is the son of justice Gurdev Singh (retd), former judge, Punjab and Haryana high court.
The disciplinary committee of the Bar Council ordered the cancellation of his licence permanently and also requested the Chandigarh senior superintendent of police to initiate a criminal case against him.
The panel, which included lawyers and Bar Council executive members Rakesh Gupta, Ajay Chaudhary and Amit Jain, also directed Jaswinder to return ₹10 lakh each, with 12% interest per annum, to two of the complainants and also pay ₹2 lakh within two months to them as compensation on account of the harassment caused.
The order was passed on February 12 and released now by the panel, constituted by Bar Council, a statutory body which looks into complaints of professional misconduct against the lawyers.
“The advocate illegally, wrongly and unprofessionally took ₹10 lakh from each complainant,” it held, adding that since he has committed professional misconduct, his license should be cancelled permanently and removed from the roll of advocates, maintained by Bar Council. A Bar Council licence is mandatory to practice in Indian courts.
Complainants convicted in 1997 murder case
The Bar Council acted on complaints of one Hardam Singh and Piara Singh, who were among the four convicted by Abohar sessions court in murder case dating back to April 1997. After their conviction in December 2013, they filed appeals against the conviction in the high court.
In January 2017, one of the convicts Narinder Pal Singh came out on parole and met one Ajay Sharma, who claimed to be the clerk of advocate Jaswinder Singh. He told them that if they are ready to pay some amount, he will arrange a meeting with the advocate who will get them acquitted. In the meeting, the Jaswinder claimed that he knew the judge personally and asked for ₹40 lakh from all four convicts. The money was paid to him, and he allegedly told them that it would be paid to the judge. When nothing progressed in two-three hearings, the convicts started demanding the money back and also met the lawyer’s father, who told him to return the money. But the lawyer allegedly started avoiding the convicts, following which two of them approached the Bar Council in November 2019, as per the order.
The matter was referred to the disciplinary committee and in response to the notice issued by the panel, the advocate claimed that none of them were his clients and demanded dismissal of the complaint.
“The complainants were not my clients and as such there exists no relationship of advocate and clients between us. Thus, it (complaint) be dismissed. Ajay Sharma (middleman) is not known to me,” said Jaswinder before the Bar Council.
The committee concluded that right from the beginning, the lawyer’s conduct was doubtful as he initially did not file a reply and later tried to delay the matter.
What did him in
The committee examined 12 witnesses and also heard a recorded conversation which allegedly took place between family members of convicts and the advocate in which he had allegedly admitted on various dates of receiving the money.
“All the facts and circumstances clearly prove that the respondent advocate has received an amount of ₹40 lakh illegally from all four convicts with the ulterior motive and intention to humiliate, harass and defraud them. In these circumstances, the committee was left with no alternative except to hold him guilty of committing professional misconduct,” it concluded.
