Panchkula Court Assault: Army Officer Alleges Assault by Lawyers Inside Court; Advocate Booked
Panchkula Court Assault: Lt Col Ashish Chandok accuses advocate Maninder Singh Bitta and associates of assault, confinement inside Panchkula court complex; FIR registered under BNS sections. Bitta denies charges.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, July 13
Panchkula Court Assault: An FIR has been registered against advocate Maninder Singh Bitta after an Army officer accused him and a group of fellow lawyers of assaulting him, confining him, and pressuring him into signing a compromise agreement inside the Panchkula district court complex — allegations the advocate has flatly denied.
The complaint was filed by Lieutenant Colonel Ashish Chandok, who is posted at the Chandimandir Military Station in Panchkula. The FIR was registered at Sector 7 police station under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) — 115, 117(2), 127(2), 190, 191(2) and 351(2): covering voluntary hurt, grievous hurt, wrongful confinement, rioting and criminal intimidation.
What Chandok alleges happened
According to the FIR, the incident unfolded on July 9 during a hearing in Chandok’s marital dispute case at the family court. Chandok and his wife have been living separately for a year, with three cases filed by her currently pending before the Panchkula district courts.
Chandok’s complaint states that Bitta, representing the opposing side, misbehaved with him during the hearing and then summoned between 10 and 17 lawyers, who assaulted him just outside the courtroom. He alleges he was subsequently taken to another advocate’s chamber, assaulted a second time, threatened, and forced to sign a “raazinama” (a compromise document) without being given a chance to read it.
Police verification and medical findings
Panchkula Court Assault: Police recorded statements from both sides on the day of the incident and sent Chandok for a medical examination at Civil Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, where two blunt injuries were reportedly found on him.
A verification exercise carried out by police at the district courts on July 10 is said to have corroborated Chandok’s version: finding that Bitta and his associates had allegedly assaulted, abused, wrongfully restrained and threatened him. The FIR notes this verification, along with the complaint and medical record, formed the basis for registering the case.
Panchkula Court Assault: Bitta’s response
Bitta has rejected the allegations outright, calling them “completely false, baseless and fabricated.” He claims the sequence of events was reversed and that it was Chandok who assaulted and abused him. He says he approached police with his own complaint immediately after the incident.
Investigation is underway.
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