Judicial works were disrupted in Jharkhand on Monday as lawyers across the State abstained from attending courts to register their protest against the alleged attack on the president of District Bar Association, Daltonganj district by a senior judge of the local court.

Due to lawyers’ strike, work at district courts and High Court was stuck as lawyers abstained from attending courts. The strike call was given by State Bar Council after the alleged assault of Satyendra Nath Tiwari ‘Nehru’ president of Daltonganj Bar Association by Daltonganj District Session Judge Pankaj Kumar surfaced. The lawyers had called the strike as incidents of assault on lawyers have gone up in Court in past few months.

Notably, following the incident the Jharkhand State Bar Council (JSBC) had on Monday called an emergency meeting and condemned the attack in premises.

The Jharkhand State Bar Council to probe the incident has constituted four member committee comprising Abdul Kalam Rashidi, Hemant Kumar Shikarwar, Kundan Prakashan and Rinku Bagat to Daltonganj to inquire into the matter and submit a report. The committee on Tuesday visited Daltonganj and enquired about the incident. Hemant Kumar Shikarwar talking said, “The committee members visited the incident site and came to know that such incidents had happened. The committee members also talked to Daltonganj Bar Council members and both the

parties Satyendra Nath Tiwari and district and session judge Pankaj Kumar.”

Shikarwar said, “The committee will submit the confidential report to Jharkhand State Bar Council.” The committee members also talked to some eyewitness in the incident.

Meanwhile, the lawyers have also demanded safety and security as lawyers have been receiving threat regularly. On last Thursday a bomb explosion took place at a Lucknow court. The explosion took place in the Lucknow collectorate in Hazratganj, near the district magistrate’s office and barely a kilometre from the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. One person has been seriously injured while two others have received minor injuries.

Meanwhile, the Registrar General of Jharkhand High Court had asked registrar (establishment) of High Court to conduct an enquiry on the incident.

However, the clients faced difficulties due to strike call of lawyers. Manoj Kumar, who is having a land dispute case on Tuesday, reached Jharkhand High Court from Chatra but as no work was done he had to return. Manoj said, “I was unaware about lawyers’ strike. Had my lawyers would had inform me prior I would have saved my time and money.”