On Thursday, Lawyers of the Surajpur district court went on strike to protest against the alleged misconduct of police personnel with advocates.
Lawyers gathered in the morning at the court premises and locked the gates, keeping police personnel from entering the grounds. This comes a day after some police personnel allegedly misbehaved with a lawyer at the executive magistrate’s office in Sector 6.
The protesting counsels alleged that the lawyer who had gone to the Sector 6 office with a client, who had been booked under Section 151 (cognisable offences) of the CrPC, was told by police personnel to leave and not interfere with their proceedings. The protesting lawyers alleged that the lawyer in question and an assistant commissioner of police had an argument as well.
“They misbehaved with him and the conduct of the police with lawyers is often like that. We get no support from them, are often insulted at police stations and instead of working with us, they often create roadblocks for us,” alleged Ranpal Awana, an advocate with the district court.
The lawyers said that they will speak with senior police personnel and if they are satisfied with improvements and developments, the strike will be called off but for now, they will continue to protest.
A senior police official, on condition of anonymity, said that the lawyer in Sector 6 was pulled up over his alleged interference in magisterial proceedings despite several warnings.
“He kept treating the executive magistrate like a mere cop even though everything was being carried out in the chamber according to procedure, thereby reducing the dignity of the proceedings and the officer. He kept on interfering and was warned several times,” said the police officer.
When contacted, the joint commissioner of police of Gautam Budh Nagar district said that the allegations of both sides are being looked into.
“We have spoken to the lawyers and are working on rectifying the situation as soon as possible while listening to both sides,” said joint commissioner of police, Luv Kumar.
Police said they are also working on installing CCTV cameras at the office to keep from such issues from arising again in the future.
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