PRAYAGRAJ, July 22 -- Taking a serious note of lawyers with criminal antecedents, the Allahabad high court has directed that all criminal cases registered against advocates across the state be transferred from the district where they practice to a geographically proximate, but professionally insulated transferee district. "The transferee district shall be at a distance of not more than 100 km from the home district of the advocate. This distance ensures that the advocate's professional network and personal influence do not extend materially to the transferee district," the court said. "While carving out the principle of 100 km, it has been kept in mind that the advocates involved, as well as the witnesses in criminal cases, should not face any hardship, and that the distance should not become an impediment in defending the cases", the court added. "Law dies twice, once when its officers turn criminal, and again when Judges choose silence over judicial courage. In both cases, the rule of law is the first casualty," it observed. Justice Vinod Diwakar, while declining any relief to Mahammad Kafeel of Etawah, an advocate, directed to list the matter on August 20 for reporting compliance with the order. "In several Bar Associations- most notably in Gorakhpur and Kanpur- office-bearing positions are held by individuals with established criminal records. Furthermore, in nearly every district court, organised gangs of law graduates registered with the bar councils have entrenched themselves for the purpose of executing court decrees, resolving disputes outside the court through coercive means, intimidating vulnerable litigants, and actively carrying out the forcible eviction of tenants and property occupants", the court said in its June 3 order uploaded on July 17....