On Thursday, the Delhi Police raided the office of lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who is representing several accused persons in cases related to t...
On Thursday, the Delhi Police raided the office of lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who is representing several accused persons in cases related to the February communal riots in the national capital that left 53 dead and affected the lives of thousands more.
In August, the Delhi Police had filed a case against Pracha for tutoring victims to make false statements. They also accused him of forging documents.
The raid prompted angry reactions from many quarters. Lawyers, especially, noted that this was a violation of attorney-client privilege. This relates to a “client’s right to refuse to disclose and to prevent any other person from disclosing confidential communications between the client and the attorney”.
However, another possible violation seems even more egregious.
By raiding the office of a lawyer and seizing laptops and other electronic equipment that could contain sensitive communication related to the cases, the police is putting the accused in a position of incrimination themselves – “implicating or exposing one’s own self to criminal prosecution”. This is constitutionally prohibited.
What is more, there have been sensational cases in the past in which similar attempts by the police to lodge cases against lawyers for their communications with accused people have been thrown out by the courts.
In particular, a case that came up during the investigation of Rajiv Gandhi’s...
