E-Paper
Agra lawyers boycott work, protest against 2001 lathicharge
They took out a protest march on the court campus and handed over a memorandum to district magistrate Navneet Chahal seeking action against the guilty.
Lawyers in the city abstained from work on Monday in protest against the ‘brutal’ lathicharge that took place on the civil court premises 21 years ago. They took out a protest march on the court campus and handed over a memorandum to district magistrate Navneet Chahal seeking action against the guilty.
“Lawyers of Agra had been demanding a high court bench here for decades for which a peaceful agitation was organised on the civil court premises on September 26, 2001. However, the Agra administration and police authorities ordered a lathi-charge on lawyers on that black day,” observed Lokendra Sharma, secretary of the Collectorate Bar Association of Agra after handing over the memorandum to DM.
“After protests by lawyers against the brutal lathicharge, the U.P. Government constituted Justice (Retd) Girdhar Malviya Commission to probe the incident. Despite recommendation made by judicial commission, there was no action taken against guilty police and administrative officials and, as such, lawyers in Agra observe Black Day every September 26 to condemn brutal lathicharge 21 years ago,” Sharma added.
Praveen Srivastava, president of Agra Bar Association, asserted that such police action could not dampen the agitation of Agra lawyers seeking a high court bench in Agra.
“The police lathi-charge was totally uncalled for and lawyers in large number were injured that day. Lawyers today stayed away from the court and observed the day as ‘Black Day’,” Srivastava added.
