Every accused has a right to be defended in court: HC

The Uttarakhand High Court restrained all bar associations of the state from passing resolutions to prevent advocates from representing a person or persons in a particular criminal case saying all accused have a constitutional right to be defended in court.

The High Court’s order came on a PIL challenging the legality of a resolution passed by the Kotdwar Bar Association few months ago asking its members not to defend a man accused of murdering an advocate.

Asserting that all accused have a constitutional right to be defended in court by the counsel of their choice, Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma of the high court directed the Kotdwar Bar Association to pay Rs 25,000 to the petitioner Kuldeep Agarwal, the lawyer who had been engaged by murder accused Vinod Kumar to fight his case.

The division bench also said that the Uttarakhand Bar council has the power to take action against any bar association of the state which issues such “illegal” resolutions preventing advocates from appearing for their clients.