Manan Mishra, the chairman of the Bar Council of India, on Saturday said showcause notices have been issued to the two defence lawyers involved in the Nirbhaya case and added that it needs to be examined whether their comments made in a recent BBC interview amounted to professional misconduct.
"Yesterday night we had our meeting. We issued showcause notice to these two lawyers (AP. Singh and M.L. Sharma) as to why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against them," said
"The statement prima facie appears to be very objectionable and it appears to be a misconduct on the part of the lawyer. So, the only thing to be examined is whether this is misconduct simple or it's a professional misconduct the inquiry will tell," he added.
The BCI chairperson further said the future course of action would be decided only after getting the replies of these two lawyers.
M.L. Sharma, the lawyer defending Nirbhaya rape case accused Mukesh Singh, earlier in the day denied receiving a showcause notice from the Bar Council of India to explain his comments made during an interview for the BBC for its controversial and banned documentary titled "India's Daughter".
"We have not got the notice from the Bar Council of India as yet. The court has placed a stay on the release of the documentary, and we have not committed any contempt of court, or can we be accused of misconduct," he told ANI.
He further went on to say that those people who had seen the documentary and spread the word about it, were in contempt of the court, as there was a ban on the documentary.
"They have violated the court order. I have only spoken for the safety and security of women. Ladies should be protected from society. Fighting for a female is not crime. I will fight for the rights of women. We should respect our courts. We are certainly going to take action," he said.
