Bar Council issues notice to Patna high court advocate who sought sexual favour as 'guru dakshina' from intern

PATNA: The Bihar State Bar Council on Sunday asked a Patna high court advocate Niranjan Kumar to personally appear before its general body meeting on January 14 and explain why his license be not suspended.Niranjan is facing charges of making sexual advances with a law student of the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU). The student, who was doing internship in the office of Niranjan, has lodged a FIR against him with the local Shastri Nagar police station.In her FIR, the law student has alleged that Niranjan forcibly sought sexual favour from her on the last day of her internship on Friday, saying it is part of “guru dakshina".Taking serious note of the contents in the law student’s FIR, the Council on Sunday called an emergent meeting of its general body, and through a resolution, decided to issue a show cause notice to the said advocate.“The council further resolves in pursuance to the media report and the FIR, which is available on social media, to issue show cause notice to Niranjan Kumar, advocate (Enrolment no- 208/2011, dated 07.01.2011), Patna high court, son of Mahendra Singh, and direct him to personally appear before the general body meeting of the Bihar State Bar Council on January 14, 2023 at 12 noon with his show cause as to why his license be not suspended,” the council said in its resolution passed on Sunday.The members who attended the meeting on Sunday unanimously resolved to constitute a fact-finding committee, comprising two males and one female advocate, other than the bar council members. “The committee so constituted is requested to submit its report before the council within 10 days from today,” the council said in a statement.The council chairman was authorised by the house to constitute the fact-finding committee, the council secretary said in a statement.The council secretary Prafull Chandra Dwivedi further asked his office to send a copy of the resolution to the advocate Niranjan Kumar at his address and through WhatsApp.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)