Darvesh Yadav was the first woman president of the Uttar Pradesh bar council (File)
The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a CBI probe into the recent killing of Uttar Pradesh Bar Council president Darvesh Singh Yadav at the Agra court premises and asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court.
A vacation bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai said that as far as the specific matter relating to the bar leader's murder is concerned, the petitioner would have to approach the jurisdictional high court.
The bench referred to the prayers made in the petition filed before it and said most were pertaining to the incident in which the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council president was shot dead.
When the counsel appearing for petitioner referred to another incident in a district court premises in Delhi, the bench said, "Please do your homework. File separate petitions. Your prayers are primarily dealing with one incident. You go to the jurisdictional high court".
When the petitioner said that issue raised in the plea was regarding safety of women advocates, the bench said, "Is the high court powerless in dealing with it and grant relief?"
The bench granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the jurisdictional high court with the grievances.
The top court had last week agreed to hear the petition seeking CBI probe into the murder of Darvesh Yadav.
Darvesh Yadav, who was the first woman president of the bar council, was allegedly shot thrice by another lawyer Manish Sharma, who had been a long-time acquaintance.
The plea, filed by advocate Indu Kaul, also sought a direction to the Bar Council of India for formulation of social security measures for woman advocates.
It listed out different incidents of sexual harassment against women lawyers in different court premises, including the Delhi High Court and trial courts.
The plea said safety of women lawyers in court premises and at chamber blocks should be "paramount" or else incidents like these could be "discouraging" for new female entrants in the legal profession.
It also sought a direction to the Delhi Bar Council for disbursing the sum of Rs 50 lakh received from the AAP government towards social security measures and asked for a direction to the UP Bar Council to pay Yadav's family a compensation of Rs 25 lakh.
"Gender disparity cannot be overlooked in the legal profession where any successful lady advocated is attributed motives for her success which can be as hurting as her character assassination. Safety and security ought to be made the first priority," the petition said.