The Supreme Court will hear lawyer Vikram Singh’s plea on Wednesday challenging his arrest by Haryana’s Special Task Force in a murder case. Singh claims he was targeted for representing a co-accused as part of his professional duty.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on Wednesday a plea filed by lawyer Vikram Singh, who has challenged his arrest by the Haryana Police’s Special Task Force (STF) in a murder case.
Singh has claimed that he was wrongly implicated only because he was representing one of the co-accused in the same case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai and comprising Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria was informed by senior advocate Vikas Singh that the case required an urgent hearing, as a practising lawyer had been arrested for simply performing his professional duty.
“We will hear it on Wednesday,”
said the Chief Justice of India (CJI) while agreeing to list the matter.
Earlier, on November 6, the coordination committee of district courts’ bar associations in Delhi had decided to abstain from work across all district courts, alleging that advocate Vikram Singh had been falsely implicated in the murder case.
The petition before the Supreme Court seeks the lawyer’s immediate release and a judicial inquiry into what it calls the “illegal actions” of the Gurugram STF.
It also demands that
“all criminal proceedings instituted against the petitioner in connection with FIR No…registered at Police Station Sector–8, Faridabad, Haryana under Sections 302, 34 IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act”
be quashed. The plea further asks for a judicial probe into the alleged misuse of power by the STF officers involved.
According to the plea, Singh has been a practising advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi since July 2019 and is currently lodged in Faridabad Jail. The petition has made the Haryana and Delhi governments, along with the Bar Council of India, as parties to the case.
The plea states,
“In the course of his professional duties, the petitioner has represented several clients in criminal cases between 2021 and 2025, including persons alleged to have connections with one Kapil Sangwan @ ‘Nandu’. All such representations were undertaken purely in the discharge of his professional obligations and in conformity with the Advocates Act and the standards of professional ethics.”
It further adds,
“However, instead of respecting the independence of the Bar, the investigating agency has sought to criminalise the petitioner’s professional association with his clients, thereby undermining the rule of law and the sanctity of the advocate–client relationship.”
The petition also highlights that Singh faced harassment after he filed an application before a court raising concerns about custodial assault on one of his clients, Jyoti Prakash alias ‘Baba’, who reportedly suffered a leg fracture while in STF custody.
Quoting the lawyer’s claim, the petition says,
“The retaliatory action by the investigating agency culminated in my illegal arrest.”
The plea further alleges that Singh was arrested on October 31 without being given written grounds of arrest or the presence of independent witnesses, which violates his fundamental rights under Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution.
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According to the petition, on November 1, a Faridabad trial court sent Singh to 14-day judicial custody through what it describes as
“a mechanical and non-speaking order, devoid of any reasoning or material connecting him to alleged offences.”
The plea argues that the arrest of a lawyer for representing a client strikes at the very heart of the independence of the legal profession and could set a dangerous precedent for advocates across the country.
With the Supreme Court now agreeing to take up the matter on Wednesday, the case has drawn attention from legal circles nationwide, with several lawyers and bar associations expressing concern over what they see as a threat to the advocate–client privilege and the autonomy of the Bar.
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