Ghaziabad: Protesting lawyers block Hapur road for two hours, no FIR lodged
Hapur Road witnesses movement of thousands of vehicles towards NH-9 and is also a tansit point for commuters of Shastri Nagar, Raj Nagar, and Govindpuram, among others
Protesting lawyers from the Ghaziabad district courts blocked Hapur Road, a major arterial road, for nearly two hours on Monday, forcing police to divert vehicles to other routes. These lawyers are on a continuous strike since October 29 following the alleged police excesses at the district courts and have demanded the transfer of a judge involved in the clashes besides action against the policemen who cane charged the lawyers.
The lawyers staged a sit-in on both sides of Hapur Road near the district police office on Monday.
The Hapur Road witnesses movement of thousands of vehicles towards National Highway-9 and is also a tansit point for commuters of Shastri Nagar, Raj Nagar, Govindpuram, and Kavi Nagar, among others.
“We called for a roadblock till our demands are met. We blocked the road for two hours on Monday and we will again block the road on Tuesday. A decision on whether to continue with the blockade will be taken on Tuesday. Our demands have not been met so far and our protest will continue,” said Deepak Sharma, president of the bar association, adding that the protest was also supported by lawyers from different bar associations in western Uttar Pradesh.
The lawyers said they would continue to strike work till their demands are met.
Police said on October 29, lawyers were demanding the transfer of a hearing in a bail case, but the judge rejected the demand. Policemen took the judge safely to his chambers when lawyers allegedly 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 various furniture and other items.
The police later registered two FIRs in the incident -- the first FIR was lodged on a complaint by court officials against three named lawyers and 40-50 unidentified people for allegedly obstructing the judicial work, damaging court property and also vandalising a police post and setting it ablaze. The second FIR was registered alleging that lawyers resorted to stone pelting at the police force and also set afire items at the police post. It also stated that several policemen sustained injuries in the clash.
As a result of the road block on Monday, the police put up barricades at Hapur Chungi intersection and diverted traffic to other roads.
“I reached Raj Nagar late by an hour as I was stuck in a jam at the Hapur Chungi intersection,” said Brijesh Kumar, a resident of Dasna near NH-9.
The police admitted that the road block inconvenienced commuters.
“The lawyers protested from 11.40am to 1.40pm, and we are contemplating action if they continue to protest in such a fashion. The blockade caused inconvenience to commuters,” said Abhishek Srivastava, assistant commissioner of police, Kavi Nagar.
The ACP said the police have so far not registered an FIR in connection with the road block.