Orissa High Court

Cuttack, April 11: Members of the Orissa High Court Bar Association (OHCBA) resumed work today ending their ceasework, which lasted throughout the last week.

The court boycott by the OHCBA members started on April 4 to protest the alleged police atrocity on Arun Kumar Patnaik, judicial magistrate (first class), Rourkela, by police personnel of Uditnagar police station.

They continued to abstain from court work as there had been no response to their demand for immediate arrest of the suspended police officer and suspension of the Rourkela SP.

Expressing concern that abstaining from attending court was not only hampering regular functioning of courts, but also affecting the litigants’ rights at large, Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda, on April 8, appealed to all Bar associations, especially the High Court Bar Association to bring back normality.

“We resumed work today in pursuance of the appeal by the Chief Justice during the course of hearing a PIL on the alleged police atrocity on the judicial magistrate,” OHCBA secretary Lalatendu Samantaray told The Telegraph.

“The members felt that court work should resume as the Rourkela SP has been directed to go on leave,” he said.

Advocate-general Ashok Mohanty had informed the court on April 8 that he had received a letter from principal secretary of the home department. The letter said: “It appears that Sadananda Pujari, inspector in-charge, Uditnagar police station…has been placed under suspension. Regarding this, chief minister has announced in the Assembly that a judicial inquiry would be conducted into the aforesaid incident. The commission of enquiry will be appointed in consultation with the high court.”

Taking note of it, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra observed: “A commission of inquiry will be appointed to probe into the alleged incident,” and fixed April 18 for next hearing on the PIL.