Dress Code for the Lawyers Revisited
Mohammed Shahjahan:
The legal profession universally recognized as one of the noblest callings is characterized by distinctive features including a dress code meant for the lawyers in action and prescribed by competent authorities concerned.
The lawyers in Bangladesh are required to comply with the dress code as laid down in The Supreme Court of Bangladesh (Appellate Division) Rules,1988 (as ammended in 2008), The Supreme Court of Bangladesh (High Court Division) Rules,1973, the Civil Rules and Orders and The Criminal Rules and Orders (Practice and Procedure of Subordinate Courts), 2009.
Rule 38 of Order IV of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (Appellate Division) Rules, 1988 states that, “ The dress prescribed for Advocates is a short coat or sherwani of black material, white shirt with turned down collar and white bands: in the summer, white trousers, and in winter, trousers of materials in deeper shades of grey. The Advocate shall wear a short black gown in Court, unless the Court directs otherwise. The dress for Senior Advocates shall be similar, with the following additional requirement, viz, they shall wear a gown as prescribed for Barristers appearing before the High Court in London. The dress for Advocates-on-Record shall be as that for the Advocates of the Court.”
Rule 2(2) of Chapter XVI-A of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (High Court Division) Rules, 1973 provides that, “ The dress of Advocates shall be as follow: (a) a coat or sherwani of black materials; (b) white shirt with turned up collar and white bands; (c) trousers of black or light coloured materials; (d) Advocate’s gown (half sleeved of black colour)”. Besides, Rule 3 of the same Chapter states that “ Female Advocates may wear white or light cloured shari or shalwar kamiz of white colour materials. All female Advocates shall wear black coat. Female Advocates using shari or shalwar kamiz shall also wear white collar with white band. A female Advocate shall wear the Advocate’s gown specified above.” Furthermore, Rule 4 the said Chapter provides that, “ Advocates enrolled with the Appellate Division may wear the dress prescribed for the Appellate Division.”
Rule 487 of Chapter XXIX of the Criminal Rules and Orders (Practice and Procedure of Subordinate Courts), 2009 states that, “ Advocates of the Supreme Court shall, when appearing in any Court of Session, Tribunal or any Court of Judicial Magistrate, wear the same gown as in the Supreme Court” while Rule 488 of this Chapter provides that, “ All male Advocates, appearing before the Subordinate Courts, shall wear the following as part of their respective dress:- (i) black buttoned coat or black chapkan, achkan or sherwani with black half-sleeved gown and band, or (ii) black open breast coat, white shirt, stand-up winged white collar, stiff or soft, with a black gown and band, (iii) In either case, long trousers (white, black or black-striped or grey) shall be worn, (iv) if European dress is worn, then a black coat with dark or white trousers and a black or dark coloured plain tie and the gown.Besides, Rule 489 of the same Chapter has it that, “All lady Advocates, appearing before the Subordinate Courts, shall wear the following as part of their respective dress:-black full sleeved jacket or blouse, stand-up winged white collar, stiff or soft, with a black gown and band, shari or shalwar kamiz (white or black) shall be worn” with the note that the wearing of the prescribed dress is compulsory for all Advocates.Civil Rules and Orders contain, more or less, the same dress code as prescribed for the Subordinate Courts. Surprising as it may sound, the Bangladesh Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Order, 1972 does not contain any provision as to the dress code for the lawyers.
What is explicitly discernible from the provisions of law referred to herein above is that notwithstanding slight differences in the dress code for the lawyers based on their gender and professional standing, it is compulsory for all Advocates to wear coat and gown to move before any Court in Bangladesh.
The very concept of such a dress code for the lawyers in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries is traced back to the Britishers who lorded over the subcontinent for nearly two centuries. The suitability of the said dress code, especially the need for wearing coat and gown irrespective of the seasonal high temperature much to the peril and health hazards of the lawyers have been questioned time and again. There are lawyers who term the dress code as a cause of great discomfort especially during the summer season. Some lawyers are also of the opinion that the dress code in vogue amounts to violation of the right to life as enshrined in Article 31 of the Constitution of Bangladesh and as enunciated in the case of Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque Vs. Government of Bangladesh reported in 22 BLD (HCD) (2002) 534. Even some judges working in the lower judiciary subscribe to the view that the dress code relates to colonial mindset among the stake-holders. Barring a few, lawyers at large in Bangladesh appear to, per at least their columns and articles published in newspapers and law journals plus daily conversations in the court premises, be in favour of easing the strict provisions of the dress code so far as compulsory wearing of the coat and gown is concerned. Unlike their counterparts from India, Bangladeshi lawyers have neither taken to the streets nor filed any Writ Petitions in the form of Public Interest litigation (PIL) seeking to scrap the dress code or to have it significantly amended.
An interesting case that comes to mind in connection with the dress code for lawyers in India is Prayag Das Vs. Civil Judge, Bulandshahr and Others reported in AIR 1974 All 133. Mr. Prayag Das, an Advocate practising before the Mofussil Courts in Bulandshahr, filed a Writ Petition before the Allahabad High Court praying for recognition of Dhoti and Kurta as Court Dress as against coat and gown. The Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition in limine holding, inter alia, that, “In our opinion the various rules prescribing the dress of an Advocate serve a very useful purpose. In the first place, they distinguish an Advocate from a litigant or other members of the public who may be jostling with him in a Court room. They literally reinforce the Shakespearian aphorism that the apparel oft proclaims the man. When a lawyer is in prescribed dress his identity can never be mistaken. In the second place, a uniform prescribed dress worn by the members of the Bar induces a seriousness of purpose and a sense of decorum which are highly conducive to the dispensation of justice. Of late there has been a lamentable slackness in matters of lawyers’ dress. We feel that the lifting of a prescribed dress for Advocates and courts is apt to precipitate sartorial inelegance and judicial indecorum. If the rule is relaxed it is not unlikely that Advocates may start dressing themselves more and more scantily and even indiscreetly.”
Though the Apex Courts of the sub-Continent tend, as apparent from judgment cited above, to hold on to the traditional dress code inherited from a colonial regime irrespective of the risks to the health and well-being of the lawyers, the Coronavirus Pandemic has been instrumental in bringing about temporary changes to the dress code. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has relaxed the dress code by way of temporarily setting at naught the requirement of putting on the gown in the course of hearings on petitions for bail vide the Practice Directions dated 10 May, 2020 for the purpose of Virtual Courts. The Supreme Court of India issued a Circular dated 13 May, 2020 to the effect that Advocates may wear “Plain white-shirt/white-shalwar-kamiz/white-saree with a plain-white neck band” during the hearings before the Supreme Court of India through Virtual Court System till medical exigencies exist. And on the following day, the Bar Council of India followed suit by way of passing an Order to the same effect.
The Pandemic will, for sure, disappear one of these days. But the health hazards and acute discomfort caused by the colonial dress code for the lawyers in these parts of the world might not. As regards the dress code, the hon’ble Supreme Court of Bangladesh may most graciously make such rules as would befit the local atmosphere by dint of amending the existing rules. This is all the more so when the Britishers, the original makers of the dress code, have themselves done away with most of the requirements of the dress code by now. Alternatively, it is the public-spirited lawyers who should be up and doing to do the needful in this regard.
Mohammed Shahjahan: Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
E-mail: shahjahanmohammed38@gmail.com
