Lawyers in Bhopal stage protest against attack on colleague

Bhopal, May 24

A large number of advocates on Tuesday staged a protest against the attack on one of their colleges, who was assaulted by three bike-borne miscreants on Monday night.

The protesters blocked the movement of commuters for hours at a busy square in Bhopal.

The protesters blocked the carriageway connecting MP Nagar to Jahangirabad and another towards the Vidhan Sabha. They were demanding the arrest of the accused who had attacked advocate Deepak Sharma with a sharp edged weapons when he was returning home on Monday night.

Though the police had arrested two out of the three accused who had attacked Sharma, they were released on bail on Tuesday, much to the dismay of Sharma's colleagues.

Subsequently, a large number of advocates practising at the Bhopal district court staged a protest to press their demand to arrest the accused again and to impose stringent charges against them.

Meanwhile, the protesting advocates were seen beating up the commuters trying to cross the road near the protest site. A group of women advocates were seen thrashing a woman commuter, while some junior advocates were seen beating a man during the protest.

The lawyers called off their protest warning that if the accused are not arrested within 24 hours, they will stage another protest.

Sharma had received injuries on his abdomen and was admitted to a hospital for treatment on Monday night.

Anand Tiwari, a junior advocate practising at the Bhopal district court, told IANS that Sharma has been discharged from the hospital on Tuesday.

P.C. Kothari, president of Bhopal district bar association, said, "No one has been beaten up. Some people tried to cross the blocked road and the protesting lawyers tried to stop them."