The district police on Friday prevented a protest against Supreme Court judge U.U. Lalit, one of the judges hearing the Cauvery waters case, planned by the Mandya District Advocates’ Association near Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.
The association had even obtained permission from the Bengaluru city police and had hired four private buses to make the trip to Bengaluru. Members of the Mandya Zilla Raitha Hitarakshana Samiti (MZRHS), led by their president G. Made Gowda and former Minister M.S. Atmananda, also had visited the office of the Deputy Commissioner expressing solidarity with the advocates.
However, before the buses could leave Mandya, police personnel arrived and foiled the plans. The police barricaded the road and prevented the buses from leaving. A heated argument ensued and later, a heavy posse of paramilitary forces was summoned to prevent the advocates from leaving town.
Subsequently, the advocates’ association members staged a demonstration near the DC’s office, halted traffic on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, and formed a human chain to protest the police action.
The association had planned to meet Governor Vajubhai Vala and raise objection to Justice Lalit, a former counsel of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, hearing the Cauvery case. “We had obtained permission from the Bengaluru police to park our buses near Cubbon Park and also had plans to express our views to the Governor. However, the [Mandya] police prevented us from leaving town,” K.M. Basavaraju, chairman of the association.
However, they commended the State Cabinet decision to not follow the Supreme Court order to keep releasing water to Tamil Nadu. Association vice-president N.S. Lokesh, general secretary K.M. Ravikumar, joint secretary K. Raghavendra, executive committee member C. Jayalakshmi and others were present.
The advocates had obtained permission from Bengaluru police and had even hired buses for the trip