Ghaziabad: Lawyers block Hapur Road for second day in a row; no FIRs yet

The lawyers blocked the Hapur Road for two hours on Monday and resorted to the same tactics for two hours on Tuesday as well

Lawyers protesting the October 29 clashes at the Ghaziabad district courts blocked Hapur Road for the second consecutive day on Tuesday to press their demands for the transfer of a judge and action against police personnel involved in cane charging lawyers in a courtroom during the violence.

The lawyers said on Tuesday that their protests will continue until their demands are met and they also burnt an effigy of the judge. Ever since the incident on October 29, lawyers have been abstaining from work (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The lawyers blocked the Hapur Road for two hours on Monday and resorted to the same tactics for two hours on Tuesday as well. The police on the other hand said that they registered no FIRs so far while a passing car was also allegedly damaged by the protestors on Tuesday.

Police said on October 29, lawyers were demanding the transfer of a bail hearing, but the judge rejected the demand. Policemen took the judge safely to his chambers when lawyers got aggressive.

The situation got out of hand, said police, and necessitated a lathi charge against lawyers in the courtroom. Later, the lawyers came down to the ground floor of the court complex where they allegedly vandalised a police post and also set fire to furniture and other items.

The police later registered two FIRs in the incident.

The lawyers said on Tuesday that their protests will continue until their demands are met and they also burnt an effigy of the judge. Ever since the incident on October 29, lawyers have been abstaining from work.

“The protest on Tuesday was successful while we also burnt an effigy of the judge in front of the police. On Tuesday, the police did not deliberately take up traffic diversions as they wanted local commuters to reach the protest site and end up in argument/scuffle with protesters. They wanted commuters to get troubled. We will retaliate if the police lodge any FIR against the protesting lawyers for blocking the road,” said Deepak Sharma, president of the bar association.

The traffic police confirmed that diversions were not put in place on Tuesday but declined to elaborate on the reason.

Rajesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (city), said no FIRs were registered over the roadblock incidents so far.

“We have not registered any FIR. A car passing by the protest site was damaged by protesters. Initially, there were no diversions but later the diversions were effected,” Kumar said.

The protesters refuted the allegations and said none of them was involved in any vandalism of a car.

“None of our lawyers was involved in damaging the car as claimed by the police. We do not know about any such incident,” said bar president Sharma.