Two publications, Livelaw, which caters to lawyers, and The Hoot, which is a media watch website for and about journalists, have written about Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra’s legal notice against Legally India.
Legally India had responded on 8 June with a 46-page letter setting out the discrepancies in the tender process Mishra used to award the All India Bar Exam (AIBE) contract to a private and apparently unsuitable contractor, ITES Horizon Pvt Ltd.
Livelaw reported last week, summarising Legally India’s response:
“Legally India” responds to May 25 notice issued by Bar Council of India; says Manan Kumar Mishra’s actions as the BCI’s elected chairman have tarnished the image of the institution
The Hoot on 12 June in an article by Prashant Reddy, who occasionally writes for Legally India, argued in an article entitled “Bar Council shows its colours” that “faced with a critical article about a tender, the Bar Council of India has made threatening noises. With this attitude, how can it champion legal reform?”
In this age of 24/7 news, there are only a few institutions which have managed to escape any kind of scrutiny or public criticism. The Bar Council of India (BCI) was one such institution…
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The second problem is the ease with which the Chairperson has threatened Legally India with a shutdown on the mere allegation of defamation. For all the faults of Indian lawyers, there is no doubt that it is Indian lawyers who have protected the spine of fundamental rights in this country so how did the Bar Council of India vote as its Chairperson a man who clearly has little understanding of, or respect for, the freedom of the press?
If this is going to be the attitude of the BCI to criticism, how are we ever going to have any accountability or reform in the way the legal profession is regulated, a task which is at the core of legal reforms in India?
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Section 425 in The Indian Penal Code
425. Mischief.—Whoever with intent to cause, or knowing that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, causes the destruction of any property, or any such change in any property or in the situation thereof as destroys or diminishes its value or utility, or affects it injuriously, commits “mischief”. Explanation 1.—It is not essential to the offence of mischief that the offender should intend to cause loss or damage to the owner of the property injured or destroyed. It is sufficient if he intends to cause, or knows that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to any person by injuring any property, whether it belongs to that person or not. Explanation 2.—Mischief may be committed by an act affecting property belonging to the person who commits the act, or to that person and others jointly. Illustrations
(a) A voluntarily burns a valuable security belonging to Z intending to cause wrongful loss to Z. A has committed mischief.
(b) A introduces water into an ice-house belonging to Z and thus causes the ice to melt, intending wrongful loss to Z. A has committed mischief.
(c) A voluntarily throws into a river a ring belonging to Z, with the intention of thereby causing wrongful loss to Z. A has committed mischief.
(d) A, knowing that his effects are about to be taken in execution in order to satisfy a debt due from him to Z, destroys those effects, with the intention of thereby preventing Z from obtaining satisfaction of the debt, and of thus causing damage to Z. A has committed mischief.
(e) A, having insured a ship, voluntarily causes the same to be cast away, with the intention of causing damage to the under-writers. A has committed mischief.
(f) A causes a ship to be cast away, intending thereby to cause damage to Z who has lent money on bottomry on the ship. A has committed mischief.
(g) A, having joint property with Z in a horse, shoots the horse, intending thereby to cause wrongful loss to Z. A has committed mischief.
(h) A causes cattle to enter upon a field belonging to Z, intending to cause and knowing that he is likely to cause damage to Z’s crop. A has committed mischief.
Now, Mishra ji, you need to tell me how Kian or LI has done mischief(Wrongful loss or damage to public property or a person)??????