'Vivah Kendra' In Lawyer's Chamber: Allahabad High Court Orders Eviction
Photographs showed that the chamber was decorated with buntings and flowers to mimic a wedding venue.
The Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, on July 8, 2025, uncovered that unauthorised marriage ceremonies were being held inside a lawyer's chamber within the Lucknow District Court premises. Based on the court's directions issued earlier in the day, the Station House Officer of Wazirganj Police Station, Rajesh Kumar Tripathi, appeared in person and submitted before it photographs confirming that Chamber No. 31, situated inside the old CSC building in the Lucknow District Court campus was being used to perform and photograph wedding ceremonies.
The visuals corroborated that the set-up was styled as a ceremonial space, and marriage-related documents had been recovered. Photographs showed that the chamber was decorated with buntings and flowers to mimic a wedding venue. A certificate of marriage was also issued in the name of 'Pragatisheel Hindu Samaj Nyas," a Lucknow-based trust, to couples getting married at the chamber. The chamber bore the names and mobile numbers of advocates Raghvendra Mishra alias 'Hindu' and Vipin Chaurasia, and the signboard read 'Brahmastra Legal Associates".
Taking strong exception to this misuse of judicial infrastructure, court ordered the eviction of the two advocates for running this parallel 'Vivah Kendra'.
Moreover, court highlighted that there was no sign of any fire being lit inside the place, and therefore, it was 'highly doubtful" that 'Saptapadi', an essential ritual of any Hindu marriage, was performed by the couples solemnizing marriage at the chamber. It was also not clear how Brahmastra Legal Associate had been authorised to issue any Marriage Certificate/Vivah Sanskar Patra in the name of Pragatisheel Hindu Samaj Nyas.
When the issue came to light, counsel for Arun Kumar informed the court that Arun Kumar had brought before him the signed vakalatnama allegedly bearing the signatures of Shivani Yadav, and the writ petition had been drafted on the basis of Arun Kumar's instructions. Arun Kumar had also signed the writ petition and submitted an affidavit in its support.
Court held that the affidavit was apparently false and that Shivani Yadav's signature on the vakalatnama was submitted by Arun Kumar without her consent. Therefore, taking serious note of the same, court directed initiation of proceedings for perjury under Sections 340 and 195 of the erstwhile Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Penal Code respectively against Arun Kumar, and referred the matter to the Magistrate concerned for appreciation and further action.
Since the girl was not involved in filing the petition, court dismissed it.
However, it directed the matter to be placed before the division bench dealing with suo motu Public Interest Litigation regarding the unsavory activities being undertaken by the advocates in District and Sessions Judgeship, Lucknow.
'We have taken on record all the documents that have been placed before us. We direct the Registry to place the entire matter before the nominated division bench to take notice and take appropriate action," the present bench noted.
The matter will be next heard on July 11 before the appropriate division bench.
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July 09, 2025, 16:14 IST
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