Bolpur: A dozen lawyers, including 10 from Calcutta High Court, landed up at a Bolpur court on Thursday to defend free of charge two men who had been arrested for allegedly beating up a Trinamul worker earlier this month.

The arrested duo, Sheikh Anarul and Mirja Jasimuddin, were part of a movement against a housing project on a 200 acre plot acquired for industry at Shibpur. The duo were among those whose land had been acquired for the project.

Apart from Anarul and Jasimuddin, the police also arrested two Trinamul workers in connection with the November 15 clash.

On Thursday, the four were produced in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate of Bolpur, Arvind Mishra, where the dozen lawyers argued for the land losers. The court refused bail to the four.

"The court remanded Jasimuddin in police custody for five days. The remaining three were sent to judicial custody for 14 days," said Firoz Kumar Pal, the assistant public prosecutor of the Bolpur court.

The lawyers from the high court were led by Rabishankar Chattopadhyay.

"We have come on our own after we heard that innocent land losers were implicated in false cases with harsh penal sections. We are here to give legal and moral support to farmers. We are with them and will come again if necessary. The entire legal help is free," Chattopadhyay said outside the Bolpur court.

Inside the court, the lawyers from Calcutta argued for about half-an-hour for Anarul and Jasimuddin. Chattopadhyay and three other lawyers, including two from Bolpur presented the argument.

The land losers said they were happy to get legal support from Calcutta. "We are really happy that a dozen lawyers stood for us in the court and are supporting our movement. We are grateful to them," Sheikh Masud, a land loser from Shibpur, said.