CUTTACK: Lawyers across Odisha burnt effigies of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday in front of the offices of their respective bar associations accusing the state government of having "failed" to resolve the two-month-old advocate-police row.
The lawyers have been agitating since August 29 demanding arrest of two policemen, who had allegedly assaulted a Cuttack-based lawyer on August 28 Alleging that the state government had not taken any initiative to settle the lawyers-police ugly bickering, the High Court Bar Association, which is agitating for over two months now, on Tuesday had given the call to burn the effigies of the chief minister.
Lawyers of different bar associations burnt effigies of the chief minister and also raised slogans against Patnaik, his government, BJD Legal Front and the police.
Lawyers of the High Court Bar Association in Cuttack took out a procession and burnt the effigy of the chief minister in front of the office of the bar association.
On the other hand, addressing the media persons here BJD Legal Front advisor and senior advocate Asim Amitav Dash alleged that the ongoing strike by the High Court Bar Association is politically motivated and those who are leading it from the front, have "ulterior motives".
"The state government, had in fact, taken several measures to resolve the face-off between lawyers and police," Dash said adding the BJD Legal Front has distanced itself from the ongoing strike.