Lawyers continue to boycott work in Delhi district courts

Lawyers in Delhi district courts continued to abstain from work on Wednesday, demanding the arrest of the policemen who allegedly fired at their colleagues during a clash that took place in early November.

Lawyers of all district courts here are likely to march from Patiala House Court to India Gate on Wednesday, Dhir Singh Kasana, general secretary of the coordination committee of the All District Courts Bar Associations, said.

"Despite our cooperation, no concrete step has been taken to arrest the police personnel who fired at advocates. So, there would be a complete abstinence from work at all Delhi district courts. Our demand was that the police officers who fired at advocates be arrested. The police officials opposed it. So we will continue boycotting work," he said.

The strike continues as a meeting of members of all district courts associations, representatives of the Delhi Police and Lt Governor Anil Baijal, held on Sunday on the orders of the Delhi High Court, failed to find a resolution, Kasana said.

The tension between police personnel and lawyers has been building up since November 2 when a clash over a parking dispute led to at least 20 security personnel and several advocates being injured.

Lawyers in six district courts have been on strike since November 4 to protest against the clash.

In unprecedented protests by the Delhi Police, thousands of its personnel had laid siege outside the police headquarters for 11 hours on November 5 and staged a virtual revolt sparked by two attacks on their colleagues by the lawyers.