Lawyers go on a rampage in Lucknow; 25 injured
At least seven people were injured when a group of lawyers resorted to arson, violence and vandalism in Lucknow on Wednesday afternoon.
Lawyers went on a rampage here on Wednesday, burning and damaging vehicles and attacking police, public and journalists during their violent protest against the alleged murder of a colleague on Tuesday.
At least 25 people were injured in the attack forcing the police to lathicharge the violent mob to control the situation.
The areas around high court premises and Parivartan Chowk were under siege for around four hours even as the lawyers went about torching over 31 vehicles, including roadways buses, cars and two wheelers and damaging 58 others.
The lawyers also vent their ire against the employees of the State Health Directorate, located adjacent to the court premises, resulting in brick-batting between the two groups. Most of the vehicles damaged by the lawyers were parked on the health directorate premises.
The lawyers attacked the health directorate because its employees attempted to put out the fire of a burning roadways bus that was torched by the lawyers.
SSP Lucknow Rajesh Pandey said police have registered FIR against unidentified agitators and were identifying them with the help of pictures and visuals captured by media persons.
Oudh Bar Association general secretary RD Shahi said: “The CRPF and civil police cane-charged lawyers inside the high court campus.”
He added: “We have demanded action against the CRPF commandant, who is in-charge of the high court’s security, and the SSP.”
According to the sequence of events, the lawyers blocked traffic at the high court crossing with desks and chairs to protest the alleged murder of a colleague, Shravan Kumar Verma, in Naka area on Tuesday.
They were demanding stern action against the culprits. A little later they marched towards the district magistrate’s office but police stopped them near Parivartan Chowk and the protest seemed to have ended when the district administration assured Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for the slain lawyer’s dependents and stern against the culprits.
However, another group of lawyers got involved in a brawl with the health directorate employees. Things took a turn for the worse and the area near the high court premises turned into a virtual battlefield, as the lawyers ran amok.
The situation was brought under control when district magistrate Raj Shekhar and SSP Rajesh Pandey ordered cops to lathi-charge the lawyers.
IG Lucknow Zone A Satish Ganesh and DIG DK Chowdhary were also present at in the ‘war zone’.
Meanwhile, hundreds of lawyers and judicial staff of the high court and district court were also left stranded inside their offices for around four hours till the situation was completely brought under control. Central Reserve Police Force personnel, who are deployed for the high court’s security, locked the gates and restricted entry and exit to protect the premises from the violence.
This is the second time in 12 days that lawyers resorted to violence. On January 29, 2015, lawyers and Lucknow University students clashed other over a car accident.
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