lawyers of Jharkhand High Court called off their pen down strike on Monday following assurances given by Advocate General (AG) Ajit Kumar that lawful action will be taken against the erring officials and no injustice will be done to them. General Secretary of Advocate’s Association of Jharkhand High Court Hemant Kumar Shikarwar said that the decision of resuming judicial work was taken during a General Body Meeting on Monday.
Incidentally, expressing solidarity towards the legal fraternity, lawyers of Jharkhand High Court had decided to abstain from Court work on Friday against alleged police atrocities on lawyers in different districts. lawyer Ashish Dubey in Garhwa, was allegedly beaten up by the police for taking video of e police personnel trying to take out the vehicle of Garhwa SP from heavy traffic jam and was later taken into custody but was later released after pressure mounted by the Advocate’s Association. Earlier, Ranjeet Giri and Ashwini Kumar were also allegedly thrashed brutally by Bokaro and Dhanbad Police respectively for trivial issues.
“The Advocate General, who himself was aggrieved by the incidents of police atrocities on lawyers in the Bokaro, Dhanbad and Garhwa in a row, assured us that the erring officials, whoever he is, will not be spared and legal permissible action will be taken against them,” said Shikarwar. With this, a unanimous decision was taken by the Association to resume their work from Tuesday, he added.
The Advocate General also appealed to lawyers of Jharkhand High Court to be patient and let the report come following which due course of action will be ensured against them.
“Kumar said that if we were free to take decisions if not satisfied by the action taken against the court of the administration,” said Shikarwar.
Ranchi District Bar Association, joining the pen down strike in some other districts has also taken a decision to abstain from court works on May 8 and 9 against police atrocities on lawyers in the three districts. The RDBA will chalk out further plan of action during another general body meeting on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the State will submit a detailed report before the Jharkhand High Court in this regard bringing on record the actual state of affairs.
A Division bench of Justice SC Mishra and Justice BB Mangalmurti, while hearing a Public Interest litigation (PIl) filed by advocate Rajiv Kumar, had sought a detailed report from the State Government with respect to attack on at least four lawyers by May 8.