Sambalpur: A total of 17 lawyers were arrested in Odisha's Sambalpur for their alleged involvement in vandalism on the premises of the district court, police said on Tuesday. Sambalpur Superintendent of Police B Gangadhar said three cases were filed at Town Police station in connection with the incident, which took place on Monday during protests over the demand for the establishment of an Orissa High Court bench in the district.
So far, we have arrested 17 lawyers for vandalism at the district judge's chamber. Nine of them were forwarded to the court and subsequently remanded to judicial custody, he said. Others involved in the incident will be arrested after analysing the footage from CCTVs installed near the judge's chamber, Gangadhar said.
The SP also said that Section 144 of CrPC has been clamped at the protest site in Kacheri Chhak to maintain law and order, and action will be taken if anyone enters the 200-metre radius of the prohibited area. The Supreme Court had on Monday asked the Odisha government to apprise it as to what steps it is going to take to ensure there is no disruption of court proceedings in the state, where members of bar associations in some districts are agitating.
A bench of Justices SK Kaul and AS Oka also pulled up the state police for not taking action against the protesters, who allegedly ransacked one of the district court premises.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India (BCI) suspended 43 agitating advocates of the Sambalpur District Bar Association for allegedly indulging in vandalism. The apex bar council said in a press release that the suspension was for a period of 18 months with immediate effect.
It said that BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has further suspended all the members of the Sambalpur District Bar Association till further orders, saying their conduct was "grossly against professional conduct and etiquettes". The BCI said the advocates were seen shouting slogans, burning effigies of judges and office bearers of BCI and State Bar Council, entering in the courtroom and damaging the computer sets and other properties inside and outside the courtrooms and further manhandling the police officers and personnel fighting and abusing them.
Manan passed the directions, saying that the videographs as well as the e-mail sent by the Odisha State Bar Council disclosed that almost all the lawyers practising there (males and females) were "badly indulged" in shouting slogans, burning effigies of judges and office bearers, entering in the courtroom and damaging the computer sets.
The council had earlier issued direction to some bar associations of Odisha to recall strike and allow the court to function smoothly. "The video, which has been placed by the office, clearly shows that the members of Sambalpur Bar Association have neither any respect for the bar council nor for the serious concern expressed by the apex court. The video is not only exceedingly disturbing, but, it is a matter of utter shame to the face of the institution and the Bar Council of India cannot tolerate such hooliganism and will never allow such Advocates to continue in the noble profession," he said.
