'India's Daughter' fallout: SC women lawyers' body wants ML Sharma, AP Singh barred from entry

Enraged by the comments of two lawyers in banned BBC documentary India’s Daughter, the Supreme Court Women Lawyers’ Association moved a petition in the apex court seeking a complete ban on their entry in the top court’s premises, a report in The Times of India said. The remarks made by advocates ML Sharma and AP Singh, who represented accused in the 16 December Delhi gang-rape case, created an atmosphere of terror and an apprehension of misbehaviour among female lawyers, the women advocates said. [caption id=“attachment_2164827” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Defence lawyer ML Sharma. AFP[/caption] The petitioner Mahalakshmi Pavani told TOI, “The comments made in the documentary (by the two advocates) are inhumane, scandalous, unjustifiable, biased, outrageous and ill-minded and are a direct affront to and in violation of dignity of women, especially the women practising in the Supreme Court. These comments have caused a sense of insecurity , indignation and fear among the female lawyers practising in the Supreme Court.” Earlier, Sharma and Singh, had been issued a show-cause notice by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for their derogatory and anti-women remarks in the BBC documentary. According to this report by Zee News, Sharma and Singh were given 3 weeks time to explain to the BCI why action shouldn’t be taken against them for their remarks. “We have issued the show cause notices to ML Sharma and AP Singh for their alleged remarks made in the (BBC) documentary,” said BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra. However, the two lawyers said that they had not received any such notice. The report in The Times of India said that the transcript of the comments made by the two lawyers about women in the documentary was submitted to the Supreme Court along with the petition. The comments by the lawyers included: “We have the best culture. In our culture there is no place for women,” and “A woman means I immediately put sex in his eyes.” Sharma had also said, “A woman is like a diamond. If you leave her on the street, the dogs will come and take her,” while Singh had proudly declared that he would burn his sister or daughter alive if she went out with a male companion in the evening.