Striking lawyers to stage dharna in front of govt offices

The striking Orissa High Court lawyers Monday decided to stage dharna in front of all state government offices in the city for next two days.

The lawyers are on strike for the last 28-days demanding arrest of policemen who allegedly assaulted an advocate on August 28.

"We have decided to stage dharna in front of all the state government offices in the city for next two days. If our demands are not fulfilled by Wednesday, a delegation of over 1000 lawyers will go to Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar and submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister on Thursday," informed senior advocate Srikant Naik, the president of the High Court Bar Association.

The police had immediately suspended three policemen for their misconduct after the incident but the striking lawyers are demanding the arrests of the policemen on charges of attempt to murder.

Two PILs had been filed in the Orissa High Court in this connection, seeking judicial enquiry into the whole incident.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice K S Jhaveri adjudicating over one of these writ petitions, had instructed the state government to investigate into the incident by a DIG-level officer of the state crime branch police.