REHANA KHAN Vs. RIZWAN SIDDHIQUEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) It is sometimes said that in a trial the parties already know the truth, and that it is the judge who is on trial. The observation is a sobering one, and the present case illustrates why. Before us are two litigants, each of whom has approached this Court in the confident expectation of vindication, and neither of whom has been candid with it. Every fact of consequence has had to be prised out of a record in which suppression, embellishment and afterthought are the common currency of both sides. The machinery of justice is not a facility placed at the disposal of parties to settle scores, to salvage reputations they have themselves imperilled, or to extract advantage from a controversy of their own making. We say at the outset, and give our reasons in what follows, that neither the appellant nor the respondent leaves this Court with credit.

(2.) These matters arise out of the judgment and order dtd. 11/8/2025 passed by the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Council of India in B.C.I. Tr. Case No. 177 of 2018.

(3.) They are cross proceedings. For convenience, we refer to Ms. Rehana Khan, who is the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 12256 of 2025 and the respondent in T.C.(C) No. 30 of 2026 and in Civil Appeal No. 7959 of 2026, as the appellant; and to Mr. Rizwan Siddique, advocate, as the respondent.