Police Summoning Advocates: SC Seeks CJI’s Directions on Safeguarding Legal Independence
The Supreme Court while letting the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India, observed that investigating and prosecuting agencies, including the police, cannot issue summons or notices to advocates simply because they are representing or advising an accused person in a case.
The bench of Justice K.V. Viswanathan and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh the legal profession is an integral component of the process of administration of justice. Counsel, who are engaged in their legal practice apart from their fundamental rights under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India, have certain rights and privileges guaranteed because of the fact that they are legal professionals and also due to statutory provisions like Section 132 of BSA. Permitting the Investigating Agencies/Prosecuting Agency/Police to directly summon defence counsel or Advocates, who advice parties in a given case would seriously undermine the autonomy of the legal provision and would even constitute a direct threat to the independence of the administration of justice.
The court’s remarks came in the backdrop of recent summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to senior advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal. Expressing concern, a bench comprising Justices K.V. Viswanathan and N. Kotiswar Singh stayed a similar notice issued by the SC/ST cell of Gujarat Police to a lawyer, who had represented an accused, asking him to appear as a witness.
The court emphasized that such actions strike at the heart of the legal system and pose a threat to the independence of the administration of justice. “What is at stake is the efficacy of administration of justice and capacity of lawyers to conscientiously, and more importantly, fearlessly discharge their professional duties,” the bench stated.
The court also observed that allowing investigating agencies to summon lawyers at will could subject them to the "beck and call" of authorities, which would be untenable and prima facie improper. Taking serious note of the implications, the bench directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for further directions.
The bench sought assistance from Attorney General R. Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and top legal bodies including the Bar Council of India, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association on two questions.
Firstly, when an individual has the association with a case only as a lawyer advising the party, could the Investigating Agency/Prosecuting Agency/Police directly summon the lawyer for questioning?
Secondly, assuming that the Investigating Agency/Prosecuting Agency/Police has a case that the role of the individual is not merely as a lawyer but something more, even then should they be directly permitted to summon or should judicial oversight be prescribed for those exceptional criterion of cases?
The court restrained the respondent-State from summoning the petitioner/advocate and there shall be stay of operation of the notice or such other subsequent notices that may have been issued to the petitioner.
Case Details
Case Title: Ashwinkumar Govindbhai Prajapati Petitioner(S) Versus State Of Gujarat & Anr.
Case No.: Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s).9334/2025
Date: 25-06-2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Siddharth H. Dave, Adv.; Prafull Bhardwaj, Adv., Mr. Maulik Soni, Adv.. Mr. Siddhant Sharma, AOR
Counsel For Respondent: None
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