Hapur lathicharge: Lawyers continue their protest, abstain from work across UP

Lucknow: Lawyers across Uttar Pradesh abstained from judicial work on Tuesday in protest against the police lathi-charge on advocates in Hapur district last week.

Despite a request by the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, members of the court's bar association also decided to abstain from work.

"We are continuing our protest. On Tuesday, lawyers across the state will burn the effigies of the director general of police (DGP) and principal secretary (Home) on the district court campuses," General Secretary of Lucknow Bar Association Kuldeep Narain Mishra told PTI.

Police had allegedly lathi-charged lawyers on August 29 when they were protesting against the registration of a case against a woman advocate and her father.

The case was registered following a confrontation between the woman lawyer and police when she was going to Ghaziabad in her car.

According to a release issued by the High Court Bar Association, an emergency meeting of the lawyers' body was called on Monday night where the members expressed their anger as no action has been taken against the guilty in the Hapur incident.

It was decided that they would abstain from judicial work on Tuesday as well, it said.

On Monday, a bench of Chief Justice Pratinkar Dewakar and Justice M C Tripathi told the lawyers that courts would start functioning from Tuesday and requested them to resume work.

The additional advocate general informed the court that in view of the lawyers' demand, retired district judge Hari Nath Pandey has been appointed as the chairman of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into the Hapur incident.

The court also asked the authorities concerned not to take any coercive action against any lawyer, whether named or not in the incident.

On the lawyers' demand of transferring officials concerned, the court said it cannot pass an order at this stage as the SIT report is awaited.

The State Bar Council, at an emergency meeting on Sunday, called upon lawyers across Uttar Pradesh to continue the strike till September 6.