Odisha lawyers defy SC order, intensify stir

A day after the Supreme Court ordered the lawyers of Odisha to call off their agitation, the members of the Bar Association Friday showed no signs relenting and vowed to continue with their month-long strike.

"Since the High Court Bar Association was not a party to the relevant case in the Supreme Court, we are weighing legal consequences of the order that was communicated to us on Thursday by the Registrar General of the Orissa High Court, said Satyabrata Mohanty, Secretary of Orissa High Court Bar Association.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday restrained the lawyers of Orissa High Court and subordinate courts from going on strike and asked them to resume work to ensure litigants do not face impediments in accessing justice.

He further said the cease-work agitation of the lawyers will continue as usual until the policemen, who allegedly assaulted an advocate last month, were arrested.

The lawyers, however, defied the Apex Court order saying it was passed in connection to a matter not related to them and the Supreme Court had not given them an opportunity to be heard.

Earlier in the morning, before the general body of the Bar Association met, the lawyers divided in different groups started picketing at different gates of the High Court.

The protesting lawyers did not allow the cars of the judges to enter the premises of the High Court. They also burnt effigies of Chief Justices of Supreme Court and the High Court.

Some judges were seen getting down from their vehicles on the road and walking to the court premises escorted by High Court security guards.

Blocking the cars of the judges from entering the court premises, the protesting lawyers also held a rally.