JOIN USGovt plans to make peace between media, lawyers
Law minister S Suresh Kumar on Sunday said the government was trying to arrange a meeting between representatives of the advocate and the media to bring about peace between them.
The minister told Deccan Herald that the lawyers were planning to boycott courts for a day on Monday.
“A permanent solution is needed as the media and the bar need to work together in a democracy,” Suresh Kumar said.
Lawyers owing allegiance to the Bangalore Advocates’ Association are likely to bycott court proceedings on Monday to condemn Friday’s violence at the City Civil Courts Complex.
Members of the association took a unanimous decision in this regard at a meeting on Saturday. In an escalation of their war against the media, the Karnataka State Bar Council has decided not to represent any media house in litigations over the coming days, Bar Council President K N Subba Reddy said.
Speaking after the meeting on Saturday, he accused media houses of being biased against lawyers and carrying one-sided reports about Friday’s episode. The Bar Council would take assistance of the police in identifying lawyers who created havoc.
“The Council has the video recording of the entire incident. There is a need to ascertain if vandals in black robes were indeed advocates or miscreants who infiltrated into the complex,” he said.
Reddy accused the police of committing excesses on advocates during the violent incidents and sought the transfer of DG&IGP Shankar M Bidari and City Police Commissioner B G Jyothiprakash Mirji.
“Bidari and Mirji were not even present when the violent incidents took place. The police resorted to lathi charge even without orders. Bidari and Mirji were behind the lathi charge,” Subba Reddy said.
He admitted that a few Bar members had attacked media representatives. Some of them attacked mediapersons to protest against their presence in the court premises. Action would be taken against such advocates as per the Council rules, he said.
Efforts would be made to restore the trust of the public in advocates. The police in civil dress damaged more than 100 two-wheelers and cars owned by advocates and thrashed them as well, he said. Reddy suspected the role of ‘external elements’ in the incident and claimed that “a few unidentified people” had bought more than 200 black advocates’ jackets from the advocates’ society in the complex premises. Such men were supporters of former minister G Janardhan Reddy, he alleged.
The Bar Council demanded immediate shifting of CBI and Special Lokayukta Courts to some other places.