12 lawyers arrested over vandalism in district court in Odisha's Sambalpur

SAMBALPUR: Twelve lawyers of the Sambalpur District Bar Association were arrested in the wee hours of Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the vandalism on the premises of the district court.

The incident took place on Monday inside the chamber of a district judge when agitators, who had come to support the Satyagraha called by the Odisha Lawyers Association against the alleged anti-lawyer stand of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and State Bar Council, barged into the court after jostling with the police.

Sambalpur Police said those booked in the case had also resorted to vandalism which was found during the verification of CCTV footage.

Three cases have been registered at Sambalpur Town police station in connection with the incident against lawyers besides the citizen groups and organisations involved in the incident. Nine of the arrested lawyers forwarded to the court were later remanded to judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.

IIC of Town police station Prakash Karna said, “We are examining the CCTV footage of the court premises to identify others involved in the incident. Further details can be revealed only after the rest are arrested.”

Meanwhile, the district police has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC within a 200-metre radius of the Kacheri Chhak, where the lawyers had staged a protest, to avoid any further untoward incident in the area.

On Monday, the Bar Council of India suspended the ‘license of practice’ of 29 agitating lawyers for a period of 18 months besides suspending all members of the Sambalpur district bar association till further orders, in view of the incident.