Police faced the strong arm of the law in Alipore in July when some 2,500 lawyers went on strike to protest against alleged violence by officers seeking to arrest a suspect.
The lawyers in the civil and sessions court decided to stop working after police allegedly “roughed up” a group of lawyers trying to prevent the re-arrest of their client, The Telegraph reported.
The client, Shiu Shankar Rajak, had just been granted bail by the Alipore court in a case involving possession of firearms but police sought to detain him on new charges of theft as he exited the courthouse.
Following the scuffle, a group of lawyers demonstrated outside the court demanding penal action against the police officer but when their calls were not heeded they agreed to strike for a day. Their counterparts in the city’s civil and sessions court and Howrah court also stayed away from the courtroom. The strike meant more than 200 cases could not be heard.
The issue was settled after the chief judicial magistrate of the Alipore sessions court issued summons against two officers and asked them to appear in court.
