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August 29, 2025 – India –
A district court in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, has delivered a landmark verdict, sentencing five lawyers for their violent attack on senior journalist Ghanshyam Patel inside the Ujjain court in February 2009. The incident, deeply troubling given its location, has been condemned for breaching the sanctity of the judicial system.
On August 28, 2025, Additional Sessions Judge Shrikrishna Dagliya sentenced Dharmendra Sharma, Shailendra Sharma, Bhavendra Sharma, and Purushottam Rai to seven years of rigorous imprisonment, while Surendra Sharma, nearly 90 years old, received a three‑year simple imprisonment term in view of his advanced age. In addition, each convict was fined ₹10,000.
The court’s judgment, spread across 120 pages, underscored that the attack occurred within court premises—referred to by the judge as a “temple of justice”—and emphasized the lawyers’ heightened duty to uphold, not undermine, the rule of law. The judgment bluntly criticized the assault as an attempted murder and an affront to judicial dignity and public trust.
The case originated on February 9, 2009, when Ghanshyam Patel had gone to the Ujjain district court to testify in a criminal matter. That day, Dharmendra Sharma initiated a confrontation, resulting in an FIR. The next day, Patel was surrounded by the accused, taunted, attacked—Shailendra Sharma allegedly struck him on the head with an iron chair—and had his revolver, gold chain, and watch forcefully taken away.
Concerned about potential bias, the High Court transferred the trial from Ujjain to Indore, where it concluded nearly 17 years later.
The accused’s plea for leniency—citing no prior convictions and a long trial duration—was summarily rejected. The court forcefully reiterated that the duty to uphold justice is “even greater for advocates who are well‑versed in the law.”
Reference –
https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2025/08/29/lgb2-mp-court-lawyers-assault-case.html
