'Would have been roughed up if you weren't a woman'

A woman magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram has accused a section of lawyers of threatening to manhandle her and abusing to alter an order cancelling the bail of an accused in a case.

Judicial First Class Magistrate Deepa Mohan, who was allegedly gheraoed by a section of lawyers on Wednesday had made the serious accusation against a section of senior lawyers, including office bearers of the Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association.

According to the first information report filed by the local police in connection with the incident, the magistrate stated that the bar association leaders threatened that if she was not a woman, she could have been roughed up. The magistrate also stated that the lawyers threatened her that she would not be allowed to leave the chamber if she did not alter the order. The chamber door was locked by the lawyers and she was threatened against going out of the chamber, said the FIR.

The police registered a case against 12 persons, including the Bar Association President K P Jayachandran and secretary Pachalloor Jayakrishnan and ten others under various sections of the IPC for unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal intimidation, wrongful confinement and obstructing public servant from discharging duty.

The magistrate had cancelled the bail of a transport bus driver in a rash driving case after the complainant alleged that the accused was threatening to withdraw the case. The magistrate's order was later revoked by an upper court.