Bengaluru advocate murder: police name two suspects as attacks on lawyers mount

Police in Bengaluru have identified two suspects in the murder of 42-year-old advocate B Manjunath, who was shot dead at his residence in Pattandur Agrahara on October 18 over a Rs 5,000 rent dispute. Whitefield division police have formed eight teams to trace them, the Indian Express reported.

Manjunath’s killing is the latest in a string of violent incidents involving advocates. In Uttar Pradesh, a 67-year-old advocate from the Kalpi police station area in Jalaun district was kidnapped and murdered in a suspected land-related dispute. His body was recovered from Kanpur’s Sachendi area, and three people have been held, The Print reported. In another UP case, a senior advocate was lured into a car with the words “Chacha, come for refreshments”, then abducted and murdered, according to the Times of India.

Tensions even spilled into the Allahabad High Court, where lawyers vandalised the courtroom of Justice Ajay Bhanot — hurling chairs and toppling shelves — after the judge allegedly humiliated an advocate and ordered him jailed over a seat dispute, The Print reported.

Courts split over when advocates can be prosecuted

The Karnataka High Court has ruled that an advocate who practised for ten years without clearing the All India Bar Examination can face criminal proceedings, and that the Bar Council’s disciplinary jurisdiction is not exclusive, SCC Online reported. The Andhra Pradesh High Court took a different view, quashing a criminal case against a panel advocate and holding that lawyers cannot be prosecuted for giving professional advice, Live Law reported.

The Supreme Court also had sharp words for an advocate who alleged a 700 per cent rise in airfares. “Don’t fly,” the bench told him, Rediff reported. An advocate has separately filed a writ petition against top police officials over cops allegedly violating investigation laws, The Siasat Daily reported.

A 23-year-old makes bar history

Amid the turbulence, 23-year-old Advocate Asmi was elected unopposed to the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, becoming the youngest-ever member of a State Bar Council in India and the first Gen Z representative, Mint reported.

Consumer and disciplinary matters also touched lawyers this week. A Delhi consumer commission ordered the State Bank of India to refund ₹35,010 to an advocate who lost the money in two unauthorised transactions after downloading a fraudulent app for a purported mobile KYC update, plus ₹15,000 in compensation, Business Today reported. At Motilal Nehru Medical College, the administration suspended all senior and junior residents of the medicine department who were on duty during the alleged assault of an advocate, the Times of India reported. And the Karnataka High Court refused to quash an SC/ST Act case against two women accused of hurling casteist abuses at an advocate in her office before clients and posting a defamatory Google review, the Indian Express reported.

Meanwhile, police in Bengaluru continue to hunt for the two suspects in Manjunath’s killing.