Senior lawyer berates juniors for violence in Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad : A senior lawyer on Sunday spoke out strongly against his colleagues accused of resorting to violence in the Ghaziabad court complex.

Ram Autar Gupta, a two-time Bar President, condemned the agitation by a section of lawyers here demanding action against police personnel.

"The court complex has become a haven for vagabonds," Gupta said. He accused the guilty lawyers of getting drink, beating up an eatery owner, threatening hospital staff, assaulting an innocent police inspector and roughing up a senior police officer.

And all this happened even though Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna had suspended four police constables who had acted wrongly vis-a-vis the lawyers earlier, Gupta said.

Gupta said the strike by Ghaziabad lawyers was lowering the image of the fraternity. "We are not going to support this anarchy," he said.

The police have registered a FIR against 300 to 350 lawyers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including attempt to murder, for beating up a police sub-inspector and roughing up Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar.

Two complaints were also filed by journalists who alleged they were beaten, kept hostage and their cameras were broken by lawyers when they came to cover the violence.