E-Paper
Bar council calls for suspension of work over lawyer’s ‘custodial torture’
The Bar council has urged the Punjab government that the probe be given to an agency outside the state. Other demands include cancellation of the FIR registered against the lawyer, registration of FIR against the accused police officials and suspension of the SSP, Muktsar, said BCPH secretary Raj Kumar Chauhan.
The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana (BCPH) on Monday exhorted all the Bar associations in two states and Chandigarh to suspend work on Tuesday in protest against alleged torture of a lawyer in Muktsar.
The BCPH has over 1.3 lakh enrolled members in two states and Chandigarh and is a statutory body, which regulates lawyers’ entry into the profession. The council has urged the Punjab government that the probe be given to an agency outside the state. Other demands include cancellation of the FIR registered against the lawyer, registration of FIR against the accused police officials and suspension of the SSP, Muktsar, said BCPH secretary Raj Kumar Chauhan.
The lawyer in question was allegedly made to indulge in alleged unnatural sex with a co-accused by the officers in police custody and was beaten up upon arrest on September 14 night. He got his statement recorded before the court on September 22. The medical record had shown injuries to him.
Acting on his statement, on September 22, a court in Muktsar had ordered the registration of a criminal case against cops. Seven cops, including an SP-level officer and a DSP, were named by the lawyer in his statement before the court.
The lawyer and the co-accused were arrested on allegations of a cop that the duo had assaulted a police team, tore their uniforms and deterred them from discharging public duty in Tibbi Sahib road locality on September 14 night.
Meanwhile, the HC Bar also condemned the “torturous, inhumane and barbarous acts” on the lawyer and said that they would abstain from work on Tuesday.
