“Some lawyers accumulate wealth through notoriety, corruption, deception, protection of despicable clients and protecting thieving clients which made Adolf Hitler to utter that he shall not rest until every German sees that it is a shameful thing to be a lawyer,” the Madras High Court Bench here said while dismissing an anticipatory bail application preferred by a lawyer in an attempt to murder case registered against him.
Justice S. Vaidyanathan made the observation while declining advance bail to T. Michael Stanis Prabhu who had been booked by Thoothukudi South Police on charges of stabbing another lawyer L. Raguraman in front of Thoothukudi District Court campus following a dispute between them over elections to the Bar association. Government Advocate S. Prabha had brought it to the notice of the court that the petitioner had faced as many as 23 criminal cases.
Pointing out that he had been acquitted in some of the cases, the Government Advocate said that the third accused in the case too had as many as six previous cases. Since the offences had been committed by lawyers, she vehemently opposed grant of bail and urged the court to dismiss the petition. In the meantime, the petitioner’s counsel sought the permission of the court to withdraw the petition after arguing the matter at length and seeking time to engage a Senior Counsel.
However, rejecting the request, Mr. Justice Vaidyanathan said that he never allows any litigant to withdraw a case after having argued the matter at length and therefore an exception could not be carved out in this case alone just because the petitioner happened to be a lawyer. He also took note of a claim that the petitioner was holding a responsible post in the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and was using it as a shield for his illegal and criminal activities.
“It is to be remembered that law profession is already under severe criticism and due to the activities of lawyers in this State, the reputation of lawyers is getting diminished among public. If the petitioner is allowed to wander in the society scot-free on obtaining anticipatory bail from this Court, it will further inflict injuries to the society. In olden days, respect extended to lawyers were inexplicable and that they were given utmost importance in the society.
“Even many of the leaders of our nation like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar were lawyers who sacrificed their lives for the noble cause of justice besides fighting for freedom and several unknown lawyers had also lost their lives in the freedom struggle. Law profession is a service oriented profession, which lost its charm in the past decade due to enrolment of some black sheep in it,” the judge said before dismissing the advance bail plea.
