Bar Council sets up panel to probe Patiala House Court violence

New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Monday told the Supreme Court that it has appointed a tcommittee to inquire into the February 15 and February 17 incident in Patiala House Court complex where some lawyers were allegedly involved in attacking mediapersons and JNU students including arrested student union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra told a bench of Justice J.Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, that the three-member committee headed by the Patna High Court's former chief justice Justice L. Narsimha Reddy would include senior counsel M.N. Krishnamani and BCI's S. Prabakaran as members.

BCI, the apex body overseeing the legal profession, informed the court about its decision in the course of the hearing on the incident of violence that took place in the Patiala House Court Complex on the two days.

The bench on Monday perused the reports submitted by the lawyers' panel that was sent by the top court on February 17 to take stock of the situation when Kanhaiya Kumar was produced in connection with remand proceedings, the Delhi Police, the administrative committee of Delhi High Court and a report by the legal team of Kanhaiya Kumar.

All the reports were submitted to the court in a sealed cover.

The court directed its registry to make available the copies of these report to the parties concerned within three days as it directed the further hearing in the matter on March 10.

On a submission by Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, the court said that the high court which is going to hear bail plea by Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday would hear the matter on merits without being influenced by anything said in the reports submitted before the top court.

In the meantime, the top court refused to allow the impleadment application by the Karkardooma Bar Association be seen in totality as the counsel appearing for it deplored the description of Afzal Guru's hanging as "judicial killing".