: In a bizarre incident, a group of lawyers allegedly locked up a judicial magistrate and his staff in the court hall and staged a demonstration against his style of functioning, here on Tuesday.
Soon after Saravana Kumar, judicial magistrate, took his seat around 10 a.m., a group of lawyers, led by Bar Association president Jothi Murugan, walked out of the court hall and bolted the doors, police said. The magistrate and eight court staff members remained confined to the hall for nearly an hour.
After a while, the lawyers asked some petitioners and accused, who were in the court hall to leave and closed the doors again. They also closed the doors of the magistrate’s chamber.
The protesters opened the doors only on the intervention of Principal District Judge T Pon Prakash, the sources said.
Rameswaram Bar Association secretary Ramamurthy said on March 14 the magistrate conducted the Lok Adalat in the absence of panel lawyers and did not pay honorarium to lawyers who appeared on behalf of the free legal aid services.
He said the Bar Association declined to depute the panel lawyers in protest, but the magistrate went ahead and conducted the Lok Adalat on March 14 with the help of a lawyer who was debarred by the Bar Council of India. The lawyers presented a petition to the Principal District Judge, listing the charges against the magistrate and demanded his transfer. They also urged the Madras High Court to initiate action against him and announced a court boycott till action was taken.
