Tis Hazari court scuffle: BCI urges protesting lawyers to call off strike, maintain discipline

New Delhi [India], Nov 5 (ANI): Bar Council of India (BCI) on Tuesday condemned the Tiz Hazari court scuffle incident and has written a letter to coordination committees and all district Bar association to call off the strike and stop violence inside the court premises immediately.
"The incident of beating the policeman on the bike by some of Saket lawyers, assault of an auto driver, manhandling general public (which are being highlighted in news and media) are most unfortunate and Bar Council of India (BCI) is not going to tolerate it. These are acts of grave misconduct," the letter read.
"Hooliganism and violence has no place in the Bar. The leaders will have to stop it immediately. It is my earnest and humble request. We are tarnishing the image of the Institution by sparing such rowdy elements. Our inaction and tolerance encourage them and ultimately results in Contempt Proceedings by the High Courts or Supreme Court," the organisation further stated in its letter.
The BCI also pulled up the lawyers stressing that several reports by the media organistaion showed lawyers in the bad light and urged them to resume duties.
"'CCTV Footage and Videography', while some are showing the high handedness and atrocities of Police, the videos circulated by our opponents (police) are trying to malign our image and to implicate some lawyers. As responsible leaders of the Bar, you can't overlook these materials. The opponents will produce these things before the Committee, the C.B.I. the Vigilance, the I.B. and the High Court," the letter read.
"Abstaining from Court or resorting to violence will not help us, rather by doing this we are losing the sympathy of Courts, Inquiring judge, C.B.I., I.B. and Vigilance. Even general public opinion is going adverse to us. The result may be dangerous," the letter by the BCI outlined.
Lawyers have been protesting at several places across the city against the scuffle that took place in Tis Hazari. A group of lawyers also protested outside the Supreme Court on Monday, demanding the enforcement of the Lawyers' Protection Act.
One Assistant Sub-Inspector has been suspended and a special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the violence on Saturday where a clash had broken out between lawyers and cops over an alleged parking issue at Tis Hazari court, in which several police officials and lawyers were injured.
A total of around 20 police personnel including Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), two Station House Officers (SHOs) and eight lawyers sustained injuries in the incident. (ANI)