Agitating lawyers on Monday torched a police jeep at Kalpana Square here protesting the alleged brutal attack on a member of the Bhubaneswar Bar Association by police on Thursday night.
The incident took place when police reached the spot to pacify the lawyers who were staging a dharna near the Kalpana Square on the Cuttack-Puri road against police atrocities.
During a discussion between the police and the lawyers, the irate mob suddenly turned violent and ransacked the police vehicle and subsequently torched it after pulling out two on-duty officers from inside the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle received multiple head injuries, sources said.
Due to the lawyers’ agitation, traffic on both sides of Kalpana Square remained paralysed for some hours.
Commissioner of Police RP Sharma and DCP Nitinjit Singh reached the spot and held discussions with the lawyers.
According to lawyers, their colleague Nihar Ranjan Sethi had been beaten black and blue by staff of the Commissionerate Police while he was passing through Ravi Talkies Square late on Thursday night. The police didn’t even pay heed to the lawyer’s repeated request that he was a practising lawyer.
The lawyers alleged that the police had kicked Sethi in his scrotum apart from thrashing him with lathis, as a result of which one of his testicles had to be removed. Now, Sethi is undergoing treatment in a private hospital here.
Sources said the lawyers, who launched their agitation since Friday, were assured by DCP Nitinjit Singh that action would be taken against the accused policemen and the injured advocate would be compensated by Saturday.
However, the lawyers alleged that no action had been taken in the case within the deadline and even the DCP did not contact the Bar Association to explain the delay.
The lawyers threatened that they would continue their strike for an indefinite period if the police fail to take action against culprits and compensate the victim.
A meeting between the Police Commissioner and the Bar Association members led by its president Tusharkanti Mishra was held in the evening. The Police Commissioner finally assured that the police would begin an impartial inquiry to unearth the truth and take action against the culprits within 48 hours.
The lawyers would continue their cease-work in courts.