The stand-off between lawyers of the Kerala High Court and mediapersons took a violent turn on Wednesday with the advocates who were taking out a march outside the court complex assaulting reporters and the camera crew of a couple of news channels and damaging their video equipment. The clashes, which began inside the High Court premises in the afternoon, spilled over into the street outside after the media room in the High Court was closed temporarily.
Though the police escorted the mediapersons outside the court complex, the advocates refused to relent and resorted to stone throwing at the mediapersons, who staged a protest in front of the court’s main entrance.
As the protesters squatted on the road, the lawyers taunted them by throwing coins at them even as a couple of others attempted to ride their vehicles through the crowd. Foreseeing the possibility of a clash, a huge posse of policemen were deployed in front of the High Court. The tense situation escalated as some of the onlookers, hurt in the intermittent stone throwing by the lawyers, retaliated the same way.
Earlier in the morning, a group of lawyers led by senior counsel M.K. Damodaran met State police chief Loknath Behera with a complaint that the case against Dhanesh Manjooran, the government pleader accused in a molestation case, was fabricated. Following this, the Ernakulam Rural Police Superintendent Unnirajan was asked to look into the allegation.
