Lawyers-police spat: Orissa HC lawyers threaten to gherao Naveen Niwas

Cuttack: Lawyers of the Orissa High Court who are protesting over their ongoing spat with police in connection with attack on an advocate by Chauliaganj police personnel last month, have threatened to intensify their agitation by gheraoing the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Due to the strike, work at offices of Treasury, Collectorate, Excise, DRDA, Banks, RTO, Board of Revenue, RDC, State Transport Commissioner inside the court periphery have been paralysed.

According to sources, lawyers have also picketed the four main gates of the court while staging the dharna.

Akshay Kumar Pati, President of Criminal Court Bar Association warned that the state government must take measures to resolve the issue between the lawyers and police.

"If our demands are not fulfilled by Wednesday, a delegation of over 1000 lawyers will go to Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar and submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister on Thursday," Pati said.

Notably, on August 28, lawyer Debi Prasanna Pattnaik was allegedly beaten up by police personnel in public view at Shastri Nagar in Nuabazar area. Next day, a police vehicle parked near Revenue Divisional Commissioner’s (RDC) office was torched during a lawyers protest against the incident.

Protesting 'police excess', the High Court Bar Association had called for the cease-work stir on August 30. Cuttack DCP Akhileswar Singh had suspended two Constables—BK Samal and UK Bhuyan and a Havildar PK Behera in connection with the incident.

Meanwhile, two PILs have been filed in the Orissa High Court in this connection, seeking judicial enquiry into the whole incident.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K S Jhaveri adjudicating over one of these writ petitions, had instructed the state government to investigate into the incident by a DIG-level officer of the state crime branch police.