Rourkela/Cuttack, April 8: The Orissa High Court Bar Association (OHCBA) decided to call off its agitation and resume normal court work from Monday.
Rourkela observed a spontaneous bandh today protesting against the alleged assault on a judicial magistrate by the police last Saturday,
Sources said that barring stray incidents of violence, the bandh, supported by all the Opposition parties, was peaceful. A special feature of the shutdown was the near absence of policemen on the roads that were taken over by bandh supporters. “Policemen were confined to their barracks and police stations,” said an observer.
While a spice factory was ransacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Chhend colony of the steel city, a police constable was allegedly beaten up by some goons during the bandh. Business establishments and government offices downed their shutters with even ATMs not open in the town. Essential services, schools and colleges were spared by the bandh supporters.
Significantly, Rourkela Steel Plant registered 98 per cent attendance as most of its employees had come to work early.
“The bandh was complete,” said Rourkela Bar Association president Ramesh Bal. The bandh came in the wake of Rourkela SP Diptesh Patnaik being asked to proceed on leave apparently in a bid to appease the lawyers. Sundergarh SP Deepak Kumar took over charge from Patnaik today.
In Cuttack, Orissa High Court Bar Association president Lalatendu Samantray said, “We decided to call off our cease work in response to an appeal made by the high court in its interim order after hearing the PIL on the issue.”
Earlier, after a hearing on the PIL on the issue, the high court had expressed concern that “abstaining from attending the courts by lawyers in protest against the incident was not only hampering the regular functioning of courts but also affecting the rights of the litigants at large”.
“As an interim measure, we deem it fit and proper to direct that the All Orissa Judicial Officers’ Association, Orissa Police Association and the Orissa Havildar, Constable and Sepoy Mahasangh shall maintain normalcy and shall not make any statement before the press and shall refrain themselves from going on strike or conducting any rally demanding revocation of suspension order in question, etc by taking law into their own hands until further orders,” the division bench of Chief Justice V.Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra ordered.
The high court fixed April 18 as the next date of hearing.
The high court further directed the Orissa High Court Bar Association, All Orissa Judicial Officers Association, Orissa Police Association and Orissa Havildar, Constable and Sepoy Mahasangh to file their respective affidavits to “assist the court in arriving at just conclusion, because they have gone to the press and made certain statements”.
The home secretary had written a letter to the advocate general stating: “It appears that Shri Sadananda Pujari, IIC, Uditnagar police station, had brought Arun Kumar Patnaik, JMFC, Panposh, to the police station. Pujari has been placed under suspension. In this connection, the chief minister has announced in the Assembly that a judicial enquiry will be conducted into the aforesaid incident. The commission of enquiry will be appointed in consultation with the high court.”
“In view of the above, a commission of enquiry will be appointed to enquire into the alleged incident,” the high court said in its order today.
