Courts in 20 UP districts hit by Ambedkar statue row

Work in courts in 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh remained suspended on Wednesday after the state bar association declared a strike over the removal of a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar from the Ghaziabad court compound a day ago.

The Bar Associations of Baghpat, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli, Noida and several other districts joined in the agitation, said Ghaziabad Bar Association President Rakesh Tyagi Kakra.

The lawyers on Wednesday put up a photo of B.R. Ambedkar at the same spot from where the statue was removed just hours after it was installed.

The police later removed the photo as well, leading to a clash between the police and the lawyers.

Finally the matter was resolved after the civic administration intervened. A request application was submitted to the administration for approval of installing the statue.

However, the Bar Association declared a day's token strike.

The police has registered an FIR against 17 members of the Bar Association here for illegally grabbing public land and installing statue without government permission.

The FIR was lodged in Kavi Nagar police station by the Collectorate against executive members of the Bar Association.

"The approval of the district administration was a mandatory formality which was not sought prior to the statue's installation, so the statue was removed," said Additional District Magistrate Gyanendra Singh.

--IANS

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