Lawyers at HC, district courts on strike against police action

Judicial work at the Delhi High Court and the district courts here today got paralysed with lawyers joining the nation-wide strike called by Bar Council of India to protest the police action on advocates in Jaipur and Chandigarh.
The strike affected trials in high-profile cases like 2G spectrum allocation scam, Commonwealth Games scam and December 16 gangrape case, being held in different courts of the city.
Lawyers observed complete strike saying the fraternity should stand by victimised advocates in their time of need.
They are abstaining from work to protest the baton charge on lawyers in Jaipur and Chandigarh and registration of an FIR against 20 advocates, who were agitating for better pay.

Work was affected at the Delhi High Court, Saket Court, Patiala House Court, Tis Hazari Court, Karkardooma Court, Dwarka Court and Rohini Court.
As the protesting lawyers blocked the entrances at Saket Courts complex, the counsel representing December 16 gangrape accused were unable to reach the court room on time and the matter was adjourned for post lunch.

The trials in other high-profile cases like the 2G spectrum allocation scam involving former Telecom Minister A Raja and others, as well as the CWG scam at the Patiala House Courts complex were also marred by the strike.
Rajiv Khosla, spokesperson of the Delhi Bar Council and former president of Delhi Bar Association, Tis Hazari, said the advocates were observing strike against the unwarranted lathi charge by the police on the lawyers of the two states who were protesting peacefully in support of their demands.

"Lawyers of the country are very much aggrieved by the misdeeds of the police which has not learnt lesson from the past and has forgotten the fact that lawyers are guardians of democracy and are capable of taking stringent action against the erring police officials," he said.
Vinod Bhardwaj, Secretary of Shahdara Bar Association also said there was complete suspension of work at Karkardooma Courts complex and around 300 laywers also staged a protest in the court premises against the government and the police.