Summons to an Advocate : How Supreme Court Answered the Issue

Summons to an Advocate : How Supreme Court Answered the Issue 

In an interesting issue, the summons to Advocate were discussed.

It was said that in Ashwinkumar Govindbhai Prajapti v. State of Gujarat [2025] GCtR 1289 (SC) that this is  "a question of grave public importance. The question is whether at all and if so under what circumstances can the Investigating Agencies directly issue summon to question a counsel who is appearing for a party in a given case." The petitioner is a practicing Advocate having enrolled in 1997. He regularly appears and practiced before all the Courts across the State of Gujarat.

The petitioner, on behalf of his client Panchal Princekumar Bhavanishankar, filed regular bail application bearing Criminal Misc. Application No.1399 of 2025 before the learned Sessions Court at Ahmedabad and after due consideration, the Court granted regular bail to the accused. 

When the matter stood thus, on 24.03.2025, a notice was served on the petitioner under Section 179 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (in short, the “BNSS”). The said notice set out the FIR details mentioned above and stated that to know the true details of facts and circumstances, the petitioner was asked to appear at the office of Mr. D.R. Patel, Assistant Commissioner of Police, SC/ST Cell - 2, Ahmedabad City within three days from the date of receipt of the notice. The petitioner challenged the said notice before the High Court by filing R/Special Criminal Application (Quashing).

The Argument by the Petitioner-Advocate : According to the learned Counsel, communications between an Advocate and a client which are privileged under Section 132 of the Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (corresponding to Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872) cannot be subject-matter of any enquiry under 179 or under any other provisions of BNSS.

Findings : The Prima Facie findings were that "the legal profession is an integral component of the process of administration of justice. Counsel, who are engaged in their legal practice apart from their fundamental rights under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India, have certain rights and privileges guaranteed because of the fact that they are legal professionals and also due to statutory provisions like Section 132 of BSA. Permitting the Investigating Agencies/Prosecuting Agency/Police to directly summon defence counsel or Advocates, who advice parties in a given case would seriously undermine the autonomy of the legal provision and would even constitute a direct threat to the independence of the administration of justice." These findings are not final and matter is still pending.