The names of five advocates who have been representing 2002 riot victims were today cleared by the Bar Council of Gujarat (BCG) here today from charges of alleged "professional misconduct".
"After receiving explanations of the five lawyers who represented riot victims, the BCG is satisfied and decided not to take further action against them," BCG chairman Anil Kella said.
The case was filed by Premchand Tiwari, an accused in the Naroda Patiya case of 2010, who had sought action under Section 35 of the Advocates Act for professional misconduct.
Tiwari, who was later convicted in the riots case in August 2012 and given 31 years' rigorous punishment, had sought disciplinary action against advocates Mukul Sinha, Amrish Patel, S H Iyer, Shamshad Pathan and Sohail Tirmizi.
The applicant had alleged before the BCG that the five advocates had not followed bar council rules while giving an application of a riot survivor named Dilavar Umrao.
Section 35 of the Advocates Act stands for removal of an advocate from the bar council's roll or may amount to preventing his practice as an advocate.
Advocate Shamshad Pathan who represented riot victims said, "The application was filed by one of the riot accused on the grounds of one of the victim's testimony and alleged professional misconduct by five lawyers".
"The applicant has charged that we made an application without informing our client. The charges have been proved wrong and riot-victims' advocates have been given a clean chit," Pathan said.
