NEW DELHI: Healthcare workers were once promised a separate law to protect them from workplace violence. Now, it’s the turn of the lawyers.
However, an RTI has revealed that the long-awaited Advocates Protection Act, meant to protect legal professionals, is likely to meet the same fate as the proposed law for healthcare workers: it has been dropped.
The Law Ministry in the RTI reply clearly stated that “there is no proposal of the Government (Union Law Minister) to enact the Advocates Protection Bill, for the present.” The RTI response came even though Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said last year that the Law Commission was actively working on the Act.
At a meeting with legal professionals in December, the minister promised legal reforms, including the Advocates Protection Act. Supported by a 2021 bill from the Bar Council of India, this Act aims to protect lawyers from violence, intimidation, and harassment in the course of their work.
The Act also imposes strict penalties on offenders and allows advocates to request police protection if they are threatened. Support for a separate law for lawyers grew after Rajasthan passed a similar Act in 2023.
According to Kerala-based Dr KV Babu, who had filed the RTI, “There was a reported statement from the Union Law Minister about a proposal for the Advocates Protection Act. However, the RTI response clearly shows “there is no proposal of the government to enact the Advocates Protection Bill, for the present.”
“If the government plans to pass a separate law for advocates based on the 2021 Bar Council Bill, healthcare workers and doctors should not be overlooked. They also need a law, as suggested in the 2019 draft Bill,” Dr Babu told this paper. The government drafted a separate law in 2019 to protect medical professionals, but later dropped the proposal.
Dr Dilip P Bhanushali, the former national president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has over 4,00,000 members, said that lawyers have a strong organisation and are not covered by the Consumer Protection Act, whereas doctors remain held liable.
The IMA, medical groups and many resident doctors associations have long called for a separate law to protect medical professionals.
Legal reforms promised
At a meeting with legal professionals in December, the law minister promised legal reforms, including the Advocates Protection Act. Supported by a 2021 bill from the Bar Council of India, this Act aims to protect lawyers from violence, intimidation, and harassment during work.