Karnataka advocates to boycott courts, blame 'police excesses'

Bangalore: Legal services across Karnataka are likely to be affected on Monday as the Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB) gave a call yesterday for boycott of courts across the state to protest alleged “police excesses” against some of its members at the civil court complex in Bangalore. An emergency meeting of AAB, convened to discuss the violent incidents and police action on Friday and also media reports against lawyers, blamed police “failure” for the ugly events that unfolded. AAB president KN Subba Reddy said had the police initiated timely action, the attacks would not have occurred. [caption id=“attachment_233934” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The state media has rejected the judicial probe into the attack as an “eyewash” and demanded that guilty advocates be brought to book immediately. AFP Photo”]  [/caption] He said the meeting passed a resolution seeking the transfer of DGP and IGP Shankar Bidari and Bangalore city police commissioner BG Jyoti Prakash Mirji from their posts. “We have also decided not to take up cases of media houses as they have portrayed lawyers badly”, Reddy said. Reddy said the association suspected an outside hand in the attack on media persons and claimed he had information that some 100 black coats were purchased from the association by unidentified persons. Police have arrested four advocates ans are looking for other suspects. A senior police officer, refusing to be identified, said the police were questioning several advocates but no fresh arrests were made. The four arrested lawyers were remanded to judicial custody till 16 March by the sixth additional chief metropolitan magistrate Churi Khan on late Saturday night. The arrests came after the media in the state rejected the judicial probe into the attack as an “eyewash” and demanded that guilty advocates be brought to book immediately. Sixty-five persons, including 52 police personnel, were injured when lawyers went on a rampage protesting media presence at the hearing of former minister and mining baron Janardhan Reddy in a mining case in the civil court complex on Friday. PTI