‘Defend fraternity against witch-hunt’

Bar association condemns arrest

Faridabad: Human rights advocate Sudha Bharadwaj (L) after she was arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, in Faridabad on Tuesday, Aug 28, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI8_28_2018_000222B)

Expressing solidarity with human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who was arrested by the Maharashtra police on August 28 besides other activists in raids across the country, the Faridabad District Bar Association on Wednesday condemned the arrests as an attack on the “legal fraternity”.

‘Attack on lawyers’

The association wrote to the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council for a call to strike to “defend the fraternity against witch-hunt”.

Terming the arrests an “attack on lawyers”, association president Vivek Kumar stated in the letter that advocates Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were also arrested in Mumbai, besides Ms. Bharadwaj, and that advocate Surendra Gadling was arrested in June in connection with the same case. Mr. Kumar said the arrests were an attack on lawyers who defend the marginalised and the voiceless in society.

He added that the association supported Ms. Bharadwaj, a visiting professor at the National Law University in Delhi, and the other lawyers arrested on unsubstantiated charges, and strongly protested against the attack on the legal fraternity.