District courts call strike in protest against lathicharge on Ghaziabad lawyers

Routine work at district courts in Delhi and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh will remain suspended on Monday as lawyers have called for a protest over an incident last Tuesday, when an altercation between a sitting judge and lawyers of the Ghaziabad court led to a lathicharge and serious violence in the premises.
The protesting lawyers allegedly set the police booth inside the Ghaziabad court premises on fire after the lathicharge on October 29, which left several persons injured.
“All the practising lawyers in the courts in Uttar Pradesh will be abstaining from work on Monday, November 4. The UP Bar Council has called for a ‘Virodh Diwas’ on that day. We have requested that work remain suspended in all 75 districts of the state,” Prashant Singh Atal, member and former chairman of the UP Bar Council said.
The bar council has also set up a five-member inquiry committee to probe the incident, which is expected to reach the Ghaziabad court on Monday.
“We will be speaking to the District Judge, the District Police authorities, Bar leaders and the injured persons on this issue,” said Atal, who is also a member of the inquiry committee.
The coordination committee of all district courts in Delhi also passed a resolution on Sunday to suspend work.
“It was unanimously decided that the lawyers will abstain from work on November 4, 2024 in strong condemnation of the brutal attack on an innocent lawyer in Ghaziabad by the police on the direction of the district judge. This heinous act of violence against a member of the Bar cannot be tolerated. We stand united in demanding justice and accountability,” the resolution circulated by the coordination committee said on Sunday.
“We urge all lawyers to abstain from work to show solidarity with the affected lawyer and to protest against police brutality at the direction of the district judge. Let us come together and raise our voices against this injustice,” it added.
Sources told India Today TV that a petition has also been moved before the Allahabad High Court seeking an SIT probe into the incident. The plea has sought preservation of the CCTV footage from the courtroom and chamber of the judge involved in the altercation.
Former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Secretary Rohit Pandey termed the incident as “condemnable”.
“Law and order must be maintained. It must be looked into what was instigated. If lawyers are being investigated, then it should also be considered who will take action against a judge who has misbehaved with lawyers. Any inquiry should cover all aspects. What had happened? Who instigated? How was a lathicharge ordered inside a courtroom and court premises? All this should be looked into,” Rohit Pandey told India Today.
“There is a difference between removing people from a court and starting a lathicharge. There were a lot of lawyers there on the court premises, and it was clear that something had happened. Even if there was provocation, the police are expected to maintain law and order and not do a tit-for-tat action,” he opined.
The SCBA and the UP Bar Council had earlier this week passed resolutions condemning the particular incident. According to sources, the Bar Council of India (BCI) is also looking into the matter and is likely to issue a statement on Monday.
The SCBA, in a resolution passed on October 30, sought an inquiry against the judge who summoned the police force to remove a group of lawyers sloganeering against him over a disagreement.
The incident took place on October 29 at the Raj Nagar Court in Ghaziabad, when a judge called for police to remove a group of lawyers who were protesting and raising slogans in the courtroom.
Videos of the police using batons and even chairs to push out the lawyers surfaced. Several people were reported to have been injured, and reports suggested that a group of lawyers set fire to the police chowki inside the court premises.
The judges of the concerned Raj Nagar Court had also stopped work on October 29, after lawyers and a judge clashed following an argument over a case related to an official of the Bar Association.
As the brawl escalated, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the lawyers. Several lawyers suffered injuries during the incident.
Visuals of the clash between police and lawyers have surfaced on social media. Videos show the police using lathicharge to evict the lawyers from the court premises. Chairs were also hurled in the courtroom during the brawl.