Karnataka HC registers suo motu PIL after advocate murders, questions police acting as 'parallel courts'

The Karnataka High Court, by an oral order dated 3 November 2026, directed its Registry to register a Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation after the Advocates' Association, Bengaluru and the Karnataka State Bar Council brought to its notice the murders of Advocates Sriram V. on 9 October 2026 and Manjunath on 18 October 2026, and an attempt to murder Senior Advocate Venkataramanappa Sannakki on 28 October 2026. Members of the Bar across the State abstained from judicial work on 3 November 2026 in protest, demanding that the Advocates Protection Act be strengthened with non-bailable provisions carrying at least ten years' imprisonment, and that police stations stop settling civil disputes between private parties.

A Division Bench of Justices D.K. Singh and H. Shanthi Bhushan held that Advocates, as officers of the court who assist in the administration of justice, must be able to discharge their duties without fear of violence or intimidation, and that a police station cannot be converted into a forum for adjudicating civil disputes over property, possession or contractual rights, since the police must act within the limits of their statutory jurisdiction. The Court directed the State to place existing standard operating procedures before it, examine the need to strengthen the Advocates Protection Act, and furnish case-wise investigation details of every reported murder of an advocate in Karnataka, listing the matter for 8 December 2026.