Cuttack: Orissa High Court on Tuesday issued fresh orders for a crime branch probe by an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general into the alleged physical abuse and assault on a lawyer near the fish market at Nuabazar on August 28.
The Orissa High Court Bar Association has demanded arrest of the erring police personnel involved in the assault on the member lawyer. The court ordered a probe on September 4, and the inquiry was started on September 6.
On the other hand, litigants continued to be affected as there was no let up in the Orissa High Court lawyers' cease work even as it completed 20 days on Tuesday.
Thousands of cases, including bail pleas and anticipatory bail applications, have gone without hearing as proceedings remained paralysed for 13 working days in the high court so far because of the absence of lawyers.
With almost no disposal of cases, the number of pending cases in the court has gone up to nearly 1.72 lakh, registering an increase of around 4,000 cases since the lawyers started their cease work on August 29.
Law minister Pratap Jena had given a hearing of their demand during an across-the-table discussion with a delegation of representatives of the lawyers' body, Cuttack Criminal Bar Association and the State Bar Council on Sunday.
"The law minister had sought two to three days time to look into our demand, so we decided to wait and watch," association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty said.