Lawyers ‘attacked’ by traders in Chandigarh, HC Bar body suspends work

The lawyers alleged that the shopkeepers attacked them with screw drivers and sticks, and one of their colleagues sustained a fracture in the left foot

Seeking police action over an alleged attack on a group of advocates in the Sector 28 Motor Market on Friday evening, the executive committee of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association has decided to suspend work on February 19.

Though cross-complaints were received, the cops registered a case and arrested four persons, including a key mechanic, a shopkeeper and their associates. (HT)

High drama was seen at the market when a violent scuffle broke out between a group of shopkeepers and advocates at around 4.15 pm. Though cross complaints were received, the cops registered a case and arrested four persons, including a key mechanic, a shopkeeper and their associates. The lawyers alleged that the shopkeepers attacked them with screw drivers and sticks and one of their colleagues sustained a fracture in the left foot.

The Police Control Room first received a call at 4.15 pm, when a key mechanic Rahul Jassal told the cops that a man who had previously slapped him had come to the market again. Police said that when Jassal questioned the advocate, the latter called his colleagues and a scuffle ensued.

As per the complaint filed by advocate Parmod, a resident of Panchkula, he had gone to a shop in Sector 28,when Rahul and some unidentified persons gathered around him, threatened him and started hitting him with sticks. The complainant was joined by his brother advocate Pawan Gulia on the spot, who was also injured in the scuffle.

As per the counter complaint received from Jassal when Pramod visited the Sector 28 Market, he was threatened by Pramod, following which Rahul called 112. He was beaten by Pramod and two of his lawyer friends, as per the complaint. Later on, a group of other lawyers also joined them.

Cops said that after conducting a medical examination of Pramod and Pawan an FIR was registered, stated the police. The arrested accused, shopkeeper Puneet, mechanic Rahul and their workers Sunil and Asmeet, are out on bail. They were booked under Section 147 (punishment for rioting), Section 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), Section 149 (offence committed by any member of an unlawful assembly), Section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), Section 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 26 police station.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association in a statement said they had unanimously decided to abstain from work on February 19, 2024 due to the brutal attack on the advocate and manhandling of the bar association president at Sector 28, Chandigarh. “Work shall remain suspended till the relevant sections will not be added in the FIR lodged against accused persons,” said Swarn Singh Tiwana, secretary of the bar association in a statement.