SUO MOTU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Public Interest Litigation was initiated suo motu based on a letter dtd. 10/9/2024 received from the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association that brought to our notice an incident involving an altercation between an Advocate and Police Officials within the premises of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Ramankary in Alappuzha District.

(2.) Taking judicial notice of the rising number of such instances in the State, it was felt that some guidelines had to be put in place to deal with such situations in future. Towards that end, therefore, we passed an order dtd. 20/11/2024 directing the Secretary, Home Department and the Director General of Police of the State to make available before the Court, all recent Government Orders, Circulars and Office memorandums, if any, that had been issued to the Police Officials instructing them on the conduct that they had to adhere to while attending to proceedings before the Courts and other judicial authorities within the State.

(3.) Responding to our directions, an affidavit was filed by the State Police Chief on 6/1/2025 stating that other than the Circulars and Standard Operating procedures issued in connection with investigation and prosecutions, there was no Circular or Office Memorandum issued specifically to guide Police personnel on the conduct to be adhered to while attending to judicial proceedings. We therefore felt that it was necessary and desirable that a Code of Etiquette and Conduct be prescribed by the State Government to guide the conduct of Law Enforcement agencies in the State. As a first step towards that end, we directed the State Police Chief to hold discussions with the Director General of Prosecution with a view to drawing up a roadmap for further discussions with all relevant stakeholders so that eventually a Model Code of Etiquette and Conduct could be published to guide the Police personnel and other Law Enforcement agencies in the State.