A sub-divisional court at Jhargram remained closed for the third day on Thursday after the bar association of this small West Midnapore town announced indefinite suspension of work in protest against disruption of transport services due to Maoist blockade.
On Tuesday members of the bar
association staged a demonstration and locked the entrance to the court premises.
With the court being closed the police can not make make arrests, as those arrested have to be produced in a local court within 24 hours.
For the past one week, entire Jhargram sub-division, about 150 km to the west of Kolkata, has come to a standstill because of the blockade called by Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), the tribal body backed by the Maoists.
“We sought administrative measure for normalising the transport system but the administration failed to give us any assurance,” Kajal Mahato, a member of the bar association, told HT.
“Bus service from neighbouring Belpahari, Binpur, Gopiballavpur, Sankrail, Lalgarh and Jamboni has to be restored so that common people can reach the court. If they can’t come, what’s the use of keeping it operational?” Mahato argued.
Though Maoist violence has affected many activities all over the country, nowhere else has a court been closed down.
“We are aware of the crisis. A meeting with the lawyers might take place in a day or two,” P Ulaganathan, sub divisional officer, Jhargram told HT.
The PCAPA is protesting the failure of the police to produce two of their supporters, Raju Adak and and Joydeb Bera, in court.
The state government has so far maintained they have no information of any such arrest.
Over the past one week, the PCAPA has stepped up its agitation and torched a sponge iron factory, set ablaze more than a dozen trucks and a mini zoo in Jhargram.
Since private bus owners refuse to ply busses defying the Maoist diktat, the lawyers are demanding the government should run its own buses.