Despite tight security provided by the police as per the directions of the High Court of Karnataka, the Principal District and Sessions Court in Dharwad witnessed high drama on Monday following protests by local advocates, which prevented a seven-member team of lawyers from filing a bail petition for the three Kashmiri engineering students who have been booked for sedition.
They would now approach the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday.
According to the counsel who had come to appear for the Kashmiri students from Bengaluru, Dharwad and Gadag, they were heckled continuously by the local lawyers. They claimed that stones were pelted at their cars too.
The three Kashmiri students have been remanded in judicial custody till March 2 and the Hubballi Bar Association had passed a resolution against any member of the Bar appearing on their behalf.
Speaking to The Hindu over telephone senior counsel B.T. Venkatesh, whose colleagues from Bengaluru had come to Dharwad along with two others from Gadag and two local advocates, said that the advocates were not allowed to file the bail application.
As per the procedure any bail petition before the sessions court has to be filed before the Principal District and Sessions Court, which in turn will allot the case to one of the two additional sessions court in Hubballi. So the advocates had gone to Dharwad to file petition.
“By the time they (advocates) reached Dharwad, there was already a crowd which first tried to prevent them from entering the court premises. Although they entered with the help of police, they were not allowed to file the petition. Subsequently, when they tried to contact the Principal District and Sessions Judge, a group of lawyers barged into the court hall, raised slogans and urged the judge to dismiss the petition on the threshold itself. I’m told the judge said that any protest should be done outside the court hall,” Mr. Venkatesh said.
