The President of the New Delhi Bar Association (NDBA), Jagdeep Vats, in a statement on March 12, said that there was no intention to disrespect or hurt any member of the Bar whether a woman or man.
The Delhi High Court had condemned the 'inappropriate' dance performances held on March 6 during the 'Holi Milan' function organised by the NDBA, on the premises of Patiala House Court (PHC) Complex, New Delhi.
In a conversation with ANI, Mr. Vats said, "The whole issue is an effort to defame the lawyers and the Judiciary. It was a cultural program comprising Ganesh Vandana, Bhangra, and Radha Krishna Dance. There are videos of these performances also. People who are raising the issue only shared the videos of film songs."
Mr. Vats said that the girls who were performing the film songs are also our sisters, they are artists and they also should be respected.
He said that the entire effort is to show that the women have been disrespected. "We respect all the women and the artists. We should have a clean outlook towards everyone," Mr. Vats added.
"We had no intention to hurt anyone's emotions. We always work while keeping in mind the respect of the Bar and judiciary," Mr. Vats told ANI. He also said that the songs performed in the function are film songs that were passed by the Censor Board. There was no nudity in the performance.
Mr. Vats also added, "The film song performances were not there in the list of events. The responsibility of the programme was assigned to different people."
He said that the program went smooth and no untoward incident towards any lawyer was reported. No one directly made a complaint to the Bar but an e-mail was directly sent to the Chief Justice of India.
He said that a show-cause notice has been received. A reply will be filed after the meeting of the Bar executives on March 13. Mr. Vats added that “the whole issue has been raised with political motives to harm the dignity of the lawyer and Judiciary. Some people are working on their hidden agenda and defaming the Bar”.
In the Holi Milan function on March 6, performances allegedly on the item numbers by the women artists were staged. The incident came to light through letters by lawyers saying it was inappropriate to organise such performance. Thereafter, the Delhi High Court intervened in the issues and directed the Principal District and Sessions Judge to issue show cause notice to the Bar and sought a report.
