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Bar Council of India urges lawyers to end protest, join back work

The decision came out after another video emerged of a lawyer slapping a policemen outside the Saket Court.

Bar Council of India urges lawyers to end protest, join back work

Advocates of Supreme Court under the banner of Supreme Court Bar Association, participate in a march to protest against brutal attack and firing on lawyers at Tis Hazari Court on Saturday; in New Delhi on Nov 4, 2019. (Photo: IANS)

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Tuesday recalled its coordination Committee resolution that asked lawyers to abstain from work in protest of violence at Tis Hazari Court on Saturday.

The decision came out after another video emerged of a lawyer slapping a policemen outside the Saket Court.

The Bar Council said that the CCTV footage and videos that are being widely circulated with a motive to ‘malign’ the image of lawyers and implicate some lawyers, and expressed apprehension that such material may be provided as evidence against the lawyers to the investigation committee, CBI, Intelligence Bureau and the High Court.

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In a letter to the lawyers, the Bar Council said, “The resolution of Coordination Committee, that police officials or personnel should be arrested first, is now meaningless and has no legal basis. We are to think this important aspect from the legal point of view, so that we don’t become a laughing stock before the society.”

The letter comes as a reprieve to thousands of litigants across Delhi, who have suffered since Monday as the courts in the city remain shut and lawyers abstain from work after the Delhi High Court ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence between lawyers and policemen at the Tis Hazari court on Saturday.

On Saturday, a minor argument broke down between a lawyer and some policemen over parking issue at the Tis Hazari Court premises resulting in violence and arson, in which a lawyer received a bullet injury.

The Police also protested on Tuesday against the attack on them as they gheraoed the Delhi Police headquarters demanding action against lawyers. The public mood suddenly seemed turning against the legal fraternity.

In a climbdown soon after, the Council said: “Hooliganism and violence has no place in the Bar. The leaders will have to stop it immediately” and urged the lawyers to join back work.

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