Cuttack, March 16: Litigants suffered as lawyers in Orissa High Court went on a cease work today, paralysing court proceedings.

More than 1,200 cases listed before various benches of the high court could not be taken up for hearing. Over 250 bail applications, including the anticipatory bail ones, also faced the same fate.

The lawyers did not join court work in response to the Bar Council of India's call to protest against the Allahabad incident in which an advocate was allegedly shot dead by police on March 11.

However, the single-judge bench of Justice S.K. Sahoo today rejected the bail petition of Mumbai-based model and tele-serial producer Preeti Bhatia. Justice Sahoo had reserved judgment after closing hearing on her petition on March 9.

The CBI had arrested Preeti in October last year for her alleged links with the Artha Tatwa Group, a deposit collection company, which has been accused of duping thousands of investors in the state. She had moved the high court after the special CBI court had rejected her bail plea.

High Court Bar association secretary Bidyadhar Pradhan said: 'We abstained from court work today in response to the nationwide call of the Bar Council of India over the Allahabad incident.'

Various bar associations in Cuttack also abstained from court work today.

'All the 157 bar associations across the state responded to the Bar Council of India's call to protest against the incident in which a lawyer was allegedly shot dead by the police on the district court premises in Allahabad,' said State Bar Council chairman Manas Ranjan Mohapatra.

He said: 'The incident exhibits lawlessness and vociferously speaks about utter savagery on part of the law enforcement agency such as the police. It is most shocking that on court premises, the police could have gone ashtray and cross all limits of humanity.'