A day after lawyers at the Karkardooma Courts Complex here staged a protest against alleged manhandling of some of their colleagues by the local police, two constables have been placed under suspension and a committee constituted to examine the matter.
“Constables Manoj and Ankit have been suspended pending inquiry for disproportionate use of force against the lawyers at the Anand Vihar police station. A three-member committee comprising Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Prabhakar and advocates S.K. Ahluwalia and Mukesh Bansal has been constituted to examine allegations and counter-allegations by the two sides,” said a senior police officer.
Mr. Prabhakar said: “Tension has been diffused and normalcy restored in the area. The lawyers have also agreed to withdraw their call for strike in protest against the incident.”
A large number of lawyers had blocked the traffic outside the courts complex and allegedly resorted to violence on Thursday evening after two of their colleagues were allegedly baton-charged at the Anand Vihar police station. Over half-a-dozen policemen were injured and two police vehicles were damaged in the incident.
Trouble had started around noon when a Municipal Corporation of Delhi demolition squad accompanied by the local police reached Inderpuri for action against a property belonging to lawyer Sujit Kumar. It soon snowballed into a major controversy when two lawyers accompanying Mr. Kumar to the Anand Vihar police station were allegedly attacked with a baton by constables Manoj and Ankit. The agitated lawyers then marched to the court complex and staged protest.
For their part, the police said the lawyers manhandled the MCD chief engineer Nishan Singh and the policemen and tore official papers leading to use of force by constables Manoj and Ankit. The lawyers, however, maintained that the action was unprovoked. The lawyers also denied having indulged in violence during the protest.
