Opposition MPs write to PM over search of lawyer Pracha’s office
The MPs alleged that the Delhi Police, which is under the Centre’s jurisdiction, committed a “serious breach in process of justice.
Members of Parliament from various Opposition parties have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to act against the Delhi Police for searching lawyer Mehmood Pracha’s office last year.
The MPs alleged that the Delhi Police, which is under the Centre’s jurisdiction, committed a “serious breach in process of justice.” The letter has been signed by 10 MPs, including, Elamaram Kareem of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Shaktisinh Gohil of the Congress, and NR Elango of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
“...Pracha, who is representing a number of cases of communal violence victims and other cases involving members of the ruling party at the centre, was subjected to search and seizure by a large group of armed police personnel of the Special Cell Delhi Police, who barged into his office and conducted searches for over 12 hours,” the MPs said in their letter. “The purpose [of the raids] was to access computers which had files of many of these sensitive cases.”
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Pracha has been representing various parties in cases registered post the violence in northeast Delhi last year.
They added that the police’s actions set a “shocking precedent”. “If the lawyer is representing cases not to the liking of the government, has the police the right to raid the lawyer’s office and break a primary principle of justice, which is the confidentiality between a lawyer and the client,” the letter states.
The MPs have asked the PM to take “urgent and immediate action against those responsible”.
A Delhi Police statement issued in December said, “During the course of a bail matter pertaining to an accused of the NED riots, use of a forged notary stamp and creation of allegedly false/manipulated evidence at the hands of certain members of the bar was noticed. The learned special court had observed that the same required thorough investigation. Pursuant to this, a criminal case under appropriate sections of law was registered and investigation was taken up.”