The judge hearing the Junaid Khan murder case in Faridabad has asked the Haryana government, the advocate general’s office and the bar council to take action against a senior government lawyer, The Indian Express reported.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge, YS Rathore, said the lawyer was helping the people charged with the murder of the 16-year-old boy on board a Delhi-Mathura train on June 22.

On June 22, Junaid and three of his brothers had boarded a local train from Delhi’s Sadar Bazar Station. A fight broke out between some passengers and the brothers over seats. The incident turned communal after a mob allegedly called the brothers “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters” and threw their skull caps on the floor. Junaid was killed in the fight, while his brothers were hospitalised with stab wounds.

Rathore said additional advocate general Naveen Kaushik was helping the counsel of Naresh Kumar, the main accused in the case, by “suggesting questions to be put to the witnesses” at the hearings on October 24 and 25.

This amounts to “professional misconduct and is against legal ethics and highly unbecoming of an advocate,” Rathore said on October 25, according to the newspaper. Rathore said Junaid’s lynching was a sensitive case, and that if Kaushik appeared to be siding with the defence counsel, “it will will create a feeling of insecurity” among the victims.

The lawyer said the judge had the “wrong impression”. “I have not appeared in the case and have no connection with it,” Kaushik told The Indian Express.

He said he was only involved as he was organising the Bharatiya Bhasha Abhiyan, which works to help courts function in Indian languages. Kaushik said he knew the counsel appearing for one of the accused and that he had requested the court to record evidence in Hindi.

Haryana Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan told the newspaper he did not know about Kaushik appearing in the case but would take action once it’s brought to his notice.