New Delhi: Former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Dr Adhish C Aggarwala has condemned the conduct of Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal who is defending the West Bengal Government in the gruesome rape and murder of the trainee Doctor at RG Kar Medical College and hospital in Kolkata.
He said Kapil Sibal issued a resolution condemning the incident and at the same time defending the West Bengal Government in the Supreme Court.
Sibal is currently the president of SCBA and has issued a resolution on the Bar’s Letterhead condemning the incident.
Aggarwala said that the conduct of Sibal in doing so shows the conflict of interest.
Moreover the resolution issued by Sibal came as a personal view without consulting the other bar members.
Aggarwala alleged that Sibal while writing the letter did not consult any other member of the bar and on his own issued the resolution on SCBA’s letterhead which is against the norms of the bar association of the top Court.
Aggarwala has issued a show cause notice to Sibal asking him to withdraw the letter and to tell under what authority he has issued the letter on August 23, 2024.
He asked Sibal to withdraw the unauthorised and illegal resolution issued on August 21, else a no-Confidence Motion will be moved against him by the SCBA members.
The SCBA former President also asked Sibal to apologise to every member of the SCBA for his such conduct.
Aggarwala in his letter to Sibal wrote, ” I, in my capacity as the Immediate Past President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), write this letter to you with a heavy heart, and pained by the fact that despite the trust our legal fraternity had reposed on you when it elected you as its President, you have failed in the following manner.
Sir, the horrific rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of not just the medical fraternity, but that of every student, every parent and every institution across this great nation including every member of Supreme Court Bar Association.”
“The Calcutta High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India, besides the legal and medical fraternity in West Bengal and other parts of the nation, have taken note of critical failure of the state machinery after the rape-murder was reported, and the highly suspicious manner the state police had approached the crime,” Aggarwala said.
Further he mentioned, “The 14-hour delay in registering the FIR and the midnight ransacking of the scene of crime with the obvious intention to erase the evidence, too have not gone unnoticed.
“You have been representing the government of West Bengal in the related cases before the Supreme Court. As a lawyer, you have every right to accept and argue cases. However, on August 21, 2024 you circulated a purported Resolution of the SCBA under your signature, describing the RG Kar Medical College incident as ‘symptomatic malaise’, and said the ‘resolution’ hoped that such incidents that have taken place throughout the country are not repeated.”
“The statement about the ‘SCBA resolution’ signed by you and printed on SCBA letterhead is mischievous, dangerous, insensitive and a grave injustice to the rape-murder victim and lakhs of doctors, trainees and students who are still on protest mode, demanding safe work environment.” Aggarwala said.
One, the so-called SCBA Resolution is not worth the paper it has been printed and signed by you
because there was no such Resolution placed before the Executive Committee of the SCBA and duly approved by the elected body. Such a ‘Resolution’ is invalid, false and non-existent. It is also a blatant breach of trust the members and office-bearers of the SCBA placed on you, because a unilateral statement drafted and signed by you is sought to be passed off as a ‘resolution’ of the SCBA, without even placing it before and getting the nod of the Executive Committee, Aggarwala said.
Secondly, trying to undermine the RG Kar Medical College incident as ‘symptomatic malaise’ of such incidents throughout the country, is nothing but a cold attempt to view it as one of many incidents. The SCBA and its office-bearers would never have allowed such an attempt to demean the incident, if at all such a ‘Resolution’ was placed before them for approval, ” Aggarwala asserted.
He said that Sibal who is the counsel for West Bengal Government should have stayed out of the issue. Instead you have chosen to issue a non-existent and illegal Resolution to undermine the incident, and it is nothing but the colossal conflict of interest. In this obvious conflict of interest you have chosen to be with the devil’s side and have muddied the reputation of the SCBA and the office of its President.”
You are well aware of the fact that the Supreme Court of India is seriously monitoring the progress of the case and has initiated suo motu proceedings for the purpose.
The CBI has already taken over the investigation as per orders of the Calcutta High Court. While so, by mentioning the Chief Justice of India by name, you have made a dangerous attempt to not only undermine, but even influence the Court as well as the investigating agency by using the SCBA’s banner and your position as SCBA President.
Sir, the damage this statement of yours, passed off as the SCBA Resolution, has caused, cannot be measured in words. It has hurt the sensitivities of the medical and legal fraternity, and has cast a shadow on the reputation and responsibility of the SCBA President’s post itself. It has been further compounded by the fact that Executive Committee members of the SCBA have now distanced themselves from the ‘resolution’ because it was never brought before them for approval.
Aggarwala further said, ” Under the circumstances, the least you could do is to withdraw this ‘Resolution’ and issue a public apology. If you do not withdraw the illegal Resolution and issue a public apology within 72 hours, I and another requisite number of distinguished Members of SCBA, will be constrained to move a no-confidence motion against you, and remove you from the post of the SCBA President, he asserted.
