Bhubaneswar, Jan. 18: Hundreds of litigants at district courts had to face inconvenience following a cease work agitation by lawyers here.

The protesters were demanding the arrest of a man who had allegedly created a fake social media profile of a woman lawyer, who is a member of the Bhubaneswar Bar Association, and posted obscene photographs.

The protesting lawyers alleged that the woman, 52, fell victim to the obscenity as she was pursuing a divorce case. The petitioner's husband had been threatening her over phone for four months. "My client's husband threatened me over phone and asked me to leave the case four months ago. Initially, I ignored the calls, but then he began abusing me over phone," the victim said.

She alleged that the man created a fake profile in her name on Saturday and posted obscene photographs of her. The pictures were morphed using editing software. "He downloaded several photographs of mine from social networking sites, morphed them and posted them on the fake profile. He also shared my mobile number there," she said.

Later, the victim decided to seek police intervention after she started receiving calls from unknown numbers.

"We came to know about the fake profile after the man sent us a friend request. We lodged a complaint with Badagada police station on Saturday. But the police are yet to arrest the culprit. We have also demanded that the police shut down the fake profile," said Mita Manjari Panda, a member of the bar.

Panda also criticised the police for the delay in taking action. "We lodged the FIR on Saturday, but the police registered the case on Monday. When the cops brought the culprit's parents to the police station, he again called our colleague and threatened her," she said.

In protest against police inaction, the lawyers did not take up any case. This is the second instance of lawyers going on cease work in recent days. On January 10, the lawyers had joined a one-day cease work demanding police action in the murder of a lawyer-cum-hotelier in Puri. Later, the police had arrested the deceased's wife and others for the murder.

The police, however, said they had registered a case under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act. "We are conducting raids at several places to nab the accused," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.