SC orders immediate release of lawyer arrested by STF

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered immediate release of advocate Vikram Singh arrested by the Special Task Force (STF), Gurugram, of the Haryana Police in connection with a murder case.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice BR Gavai ordered that advocate Vikram Singh to be released forthwith on a personal bail bond in the sum of Rs 10,000 after senior counsel Vikas Singh submitted that he was arrested just because he represented a gangster in a criminal case.

“This way, every lawyer representing a client in a criminal case would be susceptible to arrest,” Singh argued. “This is totally impermissible in view of the judgment of this court in criminal appeal No. 2195 of 2025, titled Mihir Rajesh Shah vs. State of Maharashtra and another,” he submitted.

“Taking into consideration the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, we are inclined to grant interim protection to the petitioner. The petitioner is an advocate by profession and, as such, he is not likely to flee away from the ends of justice. By way of an ad-interim order, we therefore, direct the respondents to forthwith release the petitioner on bail,” the Bench ordered.

The Bench directed the Supreme Court registry to communicate the order to the police commissioner, Gurugram, immediately.

Issuing notice to the Haryana Police, the Delhi Government and the Bar Council of India on advocate Vikram Singh’s petition challenging his arrest, the Bench posted the matter for hearing on November 19.

Apart from his immediate release, the petitioner has sought a judicial probe into the alleged illegal actions of the STF, Gurugram. He has also sought a direction to quash “all criminal proceedings instituted against the petitioner in connection with an FIR registered at police station Sector–8, Faridabad, under Sections 302, 34 IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act.”

Singh, an advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi since July 2019, was arrested on October 31 allegedly without written grounds of arrest or independent witnesses, in violation of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution. He is presently lodged in Faridabad Jail.

A trial court at Faridabad on November 1 remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days by a mechanical and non-speaking order, devoid of any reasoning or material connecting him to alleged offences, the petition submitted.

The lawyer was targeted after filing an application before a court alleging custodial assault on one of his clients, Jyoti Prakash alias “Baba,” who reportedly suffered a leg fracture while in STF custody, the plea said, alleging that “the retaliatory action by the investigating agency culminated in my illegal arrest.”