Mehrauli killing: Bar bodies condemn lawyers’ protest against accused

New Delhi: The Saket Bar Association on Thursday condemned a protest allegedly organised by lawyers at a court here against Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who is accused of brutally killing his live-in partner, saying the law takes its own course.

Association President Advocate Vinod Sharma distanced the Bar from the protest. "Our Association did not hold the protest, nor did we support it. The law takes its own course. I am also not sure if those were lawyers or some outsiders in advocates’ uniform. I have not seen the footage yet," he said.

Bar Council of Delhi Secretary, Advocate Murari Tiwari, while condemning the crime, also reiterated that "law takes its own course".

"It's a very heinous crime, but law takes its own course. We are not making any statement on the protest held at the Saket district courts premises,” he said.

Advocate Rajnish Kumar Jha condemned the protest and said it should be the last recourse "and not the first recourse of any demand. Courts and probe agencies are already doing their job, what is there to protest at this stage." Around 100 advocates, practising at the Saket district courts here, assembled around 3 pm when they came to know the accused will be produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Aviral Shukla.

They shouted slogans demanding the death penalty for Poonawala, who is under police custody.

One of the protesting lawyers, Surendra Kumar, said the protest was organised against the heinous crime of the accused.

"We demand fair investigation in the matter. It should be decided expeditiously in a fast track court," he said.

Earlier during the day, the metropolitan magistrate permitted the Delhi Police to produce the accused before him through video conferencing.

Twenty-eight-year-old Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.

Police said the couple used to have frequent arguments over financial issues and it is suspected that there was also a fight between them that resulted in Poonawala killing 27-year-old Walkar on the evening of May 18.