All government offices located near Orissa High Court remained out of bounds for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as lawyers continued to lock them up pressing for their demand for arrest of the police personnel involved in the alleged assault on a lawyer at Nuabazar on August 28.
The crime branch arrested two persons in connection with the incident and produced them before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Cuttack at his residence around midnight. As the duo personally moved for bail in the absence of lawyers, the magistrate allowed it.
The lawyers, according to the High Court Bar Association’s Monday resolution, resumed their roadblocks on all points, leading to the surrounding area. In the process, a score of government offices were paralysed for the second day.
“We are not satisfied with the arrests as the three other police personnel involved in the assault of our member are still roaming free. So, we will continue to paralyse the government offices also on Thursday,” association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty said. “But banks and treasury will be allowed to open.”
In a related development, the Odisha Police Havildar, Sepoy and Constable Confederation on Wednesday appealed to the high court lawyers not to put pressure for further arrests. “The lawyers should leave the matter to the high court, which had ordered a crime branch probe, to take the decision. If the lawyers resort to pressure tactics for further arrests by continuing with their agitation, we will be forced to take the protest path too,” confederation president Santish Satpathy said.
On August 30, the Cuttack deputy commissioner of police suspended havildar Prasanna Kumar Behera, constable Dillip Kumar Samal and Odisha armed police force officer Udaya Kumar Bhuyan “for misconduct”, and departmental action was initiated against home guard Kishore Jena.
The crime branch, which was probing the incident in pursuance of a high court order, arrested Jena and one Dilip Singh, a civilian, as the main culprits and booked them under sections 294 and 323 of the IPC.
The association, at its general body meeting on Wednesday, decided that the cease work would continue. “The decision will be reviewed on Friday,” association president Srikant Nayak said.
“The proposed gherao of Naveen Nivas, chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence, scheduled on Thursday was deferred for the time being because of Naveen’s absence. The date and time will be decided at the general body meeting on Friday,” Nayak said.
The high court bar association has been on indefinite cease work since the day following the “physical abuse and assault” on its member lawyer.