The Esplanade police have arrested a lawyer and a former law student for assaulting a senior advocate on the Madras High Court campus after they were caught drinking on Tuesday.
According to police officials, the court was closed on Tuesday owing to Ayudha Pooja. Sundararajan, an advocate, had visited his chamber for a religious ceremony in connection with the festival. When he was returning to his car around 4.30 pm after the ceremony, four men who were drinking behind the Ambedkar Statue, stopped him and questioned his identity. When the gang started using abusive words, Sundarrajan warned them that he would approach the police and told the four that he was a lawyer practising in the Madras High Court for decades.
He had also questioned the four for consuming alcohol on the court campus. Irked by this, the gang allegedly assaulted Sundararajan and broke the windshield of his car. Police said following a complaint from the advocate, two persons identified as Devendran (36), a lawyer, and Sivaji Rao (32), a former law student yet to complete his studies, were arrested. The police are on the lookout for the other two who are reportedly absconding.
A police official, on condition of anonymity, said that this was not the first time a lawyer had been caught drinking on the high court campus. “Our men have warned several such persons in the past. But we did not want to escalate the situation as we didn’t want to turn it into a confrontation between the police and lawyers,” the official said.
The incident of persons caught drinking in broad daylight on the campus of the Madras High Court on a holiday has raised questions several questions about surveillance on the premises.