Prayagraj: Cautioning against equating legal advice with criminal conspiracy, the Allahabad high court has held that lawyers cannot be subjected to criminal prosecution merely for discharging their professional responsibilities.“If an advocate is treated as part of a criminal conspiracy merely for carrying out a professional duty such as filing an appeal on behalf of a client, it would threaten the very existence of the legal profession and undermine an advocate’s statutory right to practice under the Advocates Act,” the court noted.Making the observation, a division bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena quashed criminal proceedings initiated against an advocate Samarpan Jain, who had been accused of conspiring with his client in a GST-related matter.The bench noted that such an approach would also adversely affect citizens’ access to legal representation, as lawyers would be compelled to worry about safeguarding themselves before defending their clients.The case arose from the advocate’s role in filing certain appeals on behalf of his client against some GST assessment orders.While filing the appeals, a mandatory pre-deposit of 10 per cent of the disputed tax was made by utilising the Input Tax Credit available in the client’s electronic credit ledger. The lawyer believed this method was legally permissible.The GST authorities, however, disagreed with this approach. After the appeals were dismissed on maintainability grounds, the Deputy Commissioner lodged a first information report (FIR) alleging tax evasion and conspiracy. The FIR named not only the assessee but also his advocate for adopting the above method of pre-deposit. Hence, the advocate challenged this before the high court.The HC, in its May 21 order, ruled that the criminal proceedings initiated against the advocate were fundamentally flawed and contrary to settled principles of criminal liability. It noted that the lawyer had acted strictly in his professional capacity while filing the appeals and adopting a particular interpretation of the law. Commenting on the nature of the advocate’s conduct, the court said, “It is purely a professional act and not at all something to do with his client’s business. It was done in the course of filing an appeal and nothing more. It was based on a particular view of the law, whether right, wrong or utterly wrong.”The court was also critical of the hasty manner in which the prosecution had proceeded in the case. “After notice was issued in this case, the police swung into action and a chargesheet was promptly cleared and filed in the judicial magistrate court, all in one day, that is to say on May 14, and an order of cognizance was also passed the same day by the additional chief judicial magistrate,” it said.The court concluded that the FIR and all subsequent criminal proceedings were unsustainable insofar as they concerned the advocate.Accordingly, in its judgment dated May 21, the HC quashed the FIR registered on Oct 4, 2025, the chargesheet, and the cognizance order passed by the Rampur trial court against the lawyer. The bench also directed authorities to make necessary entries in police records reflecting the quashing of proceedings against the advocate.
