Cops, lawyers clash in Rajasthan, Punjab

Clashes between agitating lawyers and police left nearly two dozen people injured in Jaipur and Chandigarh on Wednesday.

In Jaipur, the lawyers organised a march to the Assembly, breaking security barricades and forcing police to resort to baton-charging and tear gas.

Lawyers from all over the state gathered at the Rajasthan High Court building and marched towards the Assembly, pressing for long-pending demands, including a residential project at subsidised rates and allowance of Rs 2,000 per month for those with less than five years of experience.

Police said that the lawyers broke the barricades twice, manhandling policemen in the process.

They also accused the lawyers of throwing stones which injured several policemen, including a deputy commissioner of police. The clashes continued intermittently for almost two hours.

Punjab standoff

In Chandigarh, the standoff between advocates of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and police turned ugly after the latter resorted to lathi-charge and water cannons to disperse the lawyers who wanted to submit a memorandum to the Punjab Governor.

The advocates have been protesting for the last couple of days after the UT police registered a case against at least 20 advocates, including senior lawyer Rupinder Khosla, for allegedly manhandling a cop a few days ago.

Upping the ante, lawyers of the High Court on Wednesday announced to suspend all work in courts of Punjab and Haryana for the next two days until the FIRs are cancelled by the police. Litigants are likely to face problems in wake of the call to suspend work by the advocates.

A few of the lawyers escaped with minor injuries. No one was seriously hurt. The situation flared up after the police stopped the lawyers from entering the zone where section 144 was imposed. 

As the lawyers reached the residence of the Governor, some of the advocates broke the barricades and demanded to go inside, which is when the police resorted to the use of water cannons against them.