Defying the order of the Supreme Court passed on Thursday, the lawyers of Cuttack, including those of the Orissa High Court, intensified their month-long strike on Friday.
Blocking the cars of the judges from entering the premises of the High Court, the lawyers burnt effigies of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Chief Justice of Odisha KS Jhaveri after taking them on biers in a rally around the High Court amidst derogatory slogans. As many as six judges were seen getting down from their cars on the road and walking their way to the court premises escorted by court security guards.
Notably, a three-member Bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI Misra on Thursday had ordered the members of the Orissa High Court Bar Association and other connected associations to refrain from their strike and resume court works. The lawyers, however, defied the apex court order saying it was passed in connection to a matter not related to them and the Supreme Court had not given them an opportunity to be heard.
Since the High Court Bar Association was not a party in the relevant case in the Supreme Court, we are weighing the legal consequences of the order that was communicated to us on Thursday by the Registrar General of the Orissa High Court,” said High Court Bar Association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty. He further added that the lawyers’ cease-work agitation would continue the policemen, who assaulted an advocate in the city last month, are arrested.
