Non-lawyers can’t wear white shirts, black pants in court premises: Rohini Court Bar Association
RCBA has also made it mandatory for member advocates to obtain authorised ID cards for their clerks, warning that failing to do so would invite disciplinary action.
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 18, 2025 04:54 PM IST
Rajiv Tehlan, President, RCBA, said the association has changed the parking procedure by adopting QR codes, and one can get the details of genuine advocates after scanning the QR codes. (Express Archive/Amit Mehra)
To prevent non-lawyers from misleading litigants, the Rohini Court Bar Association (RCBA) recently issued a notice reserving white shirts and black pants for advocates at the Rohini Court premises in Delhi.
“It is hereby notified that no clerk, litigant, or member of the general public is permitted to wear a white shirt and black pants during their visit to the court complex,” reads the RCBA notice issued on Tuesday.
“This attire is strictly reserved for respected lawyers/advocates as a mark of professional identity and dignity of the legal fraternity,” the notice adds.
In an earlier notice, RCBA had stated: “The Executive Committee of the Rohini Court Bar Association, through several respected members of the Bar and multiple complaints from the general public and litigants, has found that a number of touts are falsely representing themselves as official advocates or clerks of advocates. These individuals are misleading and defrauding uneducated litigants under false pretences.”
RCBA has also made it mandatory for member advocates to obtain authorised ID cards for their clerks, warning that failing to do so would invite disciplinary action.
Rajiv Tehlan, President, RCBA, said: “Many times, even miscreants and accused persons wear the clothes of lawyers… they even take up the parking space reserved for lawyers. They’re constantly duping litigants.”
“If miscreants enter the court premises and security doesn’t check them because of their attire, the reputation of all lawyers gets hampered,” he added.
Story continues below this ad
Tehlan also said RCBA has changed the parking procedure by adopting Quick-Response (QR) codes. One can get the details of genuine advocates after scanning the QR codes.
“This is a revolutionary and pragmatic step in the right direction… We have instances of common litigants being defrauded by miscreants dressed in black and white,” said advocate Pravesh Dabas, who practices regularly in Rohini Court.
“In the past, we also witnessed the infamous shootout of gangster Gogi in Court premises… this could only happen as the assailants were wearing a lawyer’s uniform,” he added.
Reacting to the decisions of RCBA, Dhir Singh Kasana, former secretary of the Saket Court Bar Association in Delhi, said, “In Saket Court, there is no proper checking. This step is good for security purposes. It should happen in every court. Otherwise, thousands wearing black and white clothes enter (court premises) every day… I feel that this can curb the entry of fraudsters.”
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
X (Twitter): @Nirbhaya99 ... Read More
