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Sept 2001 lathicharge: Agra lawyers observe Black Day
Lawyers gathered on civil court campus at 11 am on Tuesday and with banners in hand, a ‘prabhat pheri’ (march) was taken out. They also raised slogans in support of the demand for a high court bench in Agra and condemned police cane charging on lawyers on September 26, 2001.
Agra Lawyers here boycotted work on Tuesday and staged protest against delay in action in a lathicharge case of 2001.
To note, lawyers were lathicharged by police in civil court here on September 26, 2001 when they were staging a peaceful agitation for a high court bench in Agra.
“Decades have passed after the brutal lathicharge by police on lawyers on civil court campus here on September 26, 2001. The unarmed lawyers were dragged and thrashed, leaving many of them injured. Till date, no action has been taken against the administrative and police officials guilty and we observe September 26 as Black Day every year,” said Arun Solanki, Agra convenor of All India Lawyers Association.
Lawyers gathered on civil court campus at 11 am on Tuesday and with banners in hand, a ‘prabhat pheri’ (march) was taken out. They also raised slogans in support of the demand for a high court bench in Agra and condemned police cane charging on lawyers on September 26, 2001.
“Lawyers, like past years, stayed away from routine working and wore black bands to lodge protest. They are await justice as the officials responsible for the lathicharge on lawyers on September 26, 2001 are yet to be punished,” said Solanki.
“After a long agitation by lawyers, the state government had constituted a commission headed by justice Girdhar Malviya in regard to the incident. Justice Malviya submitted his report a decade ago, yet no action has been taken,” complained Surendra Lakhan, a senior lawyer.
The Agra Collectorate Bar Association also observed Tuesday as ‘Black Day’. Its president Brajendra Rawat and secretary Lokendra Sharma led the delegation of lawyers which gave a memorandum to Agra district magistrate Bhanu Goswami.
“More than two decades have passed but no action has been taken in the case. No attention is being paid to recommendations made by justice Girdhar Malviya in his probe report,” said Lokendra Sharma.
