Protesting lawyers stopped at HC gates; Kaul sticks to ‘approach SC’ stand

While agitating advocates gathered at all the gates, heavy security by the State police and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) effectively prevented the agitating advocates from entering the court premises. Undeterred, the advocates were on the streets screaming slogans against the judges and the bar council, while the courts functioned as a matter of routine. With clear-cut instructions to the police and CISF to allow passage of only those advocates whose cases were listed for the day, the number of advocates present at the courts was limited. 

At one stage, all the gates were locked leaving many court staff and senior lawyers stranded. For that matter, based on a mention by an advocate, Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul sought a clarification from the Registrar General, to which the agitating advocates attempting to break the barricades was cited as a reason for the gates being kept under lock and key.

Utter chaos and mayhem prevailed outside the court, with advocates indulging in arguments with the police and making attempts to break the barricades. Some were seen dragging barricades on to the streets and making attempts to block traffic. However, advocates who had arrived from other districts, assembled at the Fort Station Road. Addressing the gathering, the speakers insisted that the protests would continue until all the new rules granting power to judges to debar advocates is withdrawn. They claimed that judges already had adequate powers under the Contempt of Court Act to move against erring lawyers and that the new rules could be easily misused against advocates.

“I am also from the Bar and it’s not a happy situation restricting lawyers from entering the court. If the lawyers threaten that they will hero the High Court what else can be done?”, observed Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul while advocate P Suryaprakasam made a mention about advocates being turned away at the gates. However, he made it clear that despite several appeals to the advocate bodies to come before the committee and voice their objections, none had come forward. “The rules were framed in the presence of the lawyers and if they want to challenge it let them go before the Supreme Court,” he added.