SC agrees with petitioner on attorney-client privilege

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court , which on Wednesday stayed Gujarat police SC/ST cell's notice to the advocate of an accused to appear as a witness, framed two preliminary questions: "When an individual is associated with a case only as a lawyer advising the parties, would the investigating agency/prosecuting agency/police directly summon the lawyer for questioning? Assuming that the probe agency/police have 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 there be a judicial oversight be prescribed?"

Advocate Siddharth S Dave, appearing for the lawyer who was summoned by Gujarat police, told the court that the lawyer was only discharging his professional duty by appearing for the accused and was in no way involved with the offence alleged against his client.

"The communication between the lawyer and his client is protected against disclosure by Section 132 of Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam and, hence, police cannot inquire into the communication nor can the advocate be summoned even as a witness," Dave said.

The bench agreed and said, "Legal profession is an integral part of administration of justice . Lawyers have certain rights and privileges guaranteed by statute because of the nature of their profession."

"Permitting investigating agencies/police to directly summon defence counsel or advocates, for the advice rendered by them to a client or an accused, will seriously undermine their autonomy and could even constitute a threat to the independence of administration of justice," the Supreme Court bench further added.