Allahabad High Court Fines Gram Pradhan ₹25,000 for Misusing SC/ST Act to Threaten Lawyer

The Allahabad High Court imposed a cost of ₹25,000 on a Gram Pradhan (village head) for threatening to implicate a lawyer in a false case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Justice JJ Munir observed that the threat was meant to obstruct the lawyer from representing a client and amounted to abuse of process.

The Court took serious note of the misuse of statutory protections to intimidate legal professionals.

The Court directed the Gram Pradhan to deposit the cost with the High Court Legal Services Committee and warned against misuse of statutory protections for personal vendettas. (Bano Bibi vs State of UP and 4 Others)