Jagatsinghpur District Bar Association members held a day-long cease-work in courts on Wednesday protesting the “illegal” arrest of a lawyer in a dowry torture case.
Association president Gagan Chandra Dash said Ramananda Panda was arrested by police without complying with legal formalities. The victim was booked basing on his wife Lipi Panda’s complaint.
Police had picked him up from his residence on Sunday midnight and brought him to the police station for interrogation where he was ill-treated by police. Later, on Monday morning, he was forwarded to court from where he was shifted to jail. Panda’s bail pleas were heard in Jagatsinghpur district judge court who granted bail to him on Tuesday. “We condemn the illegal act of police who desecrated Supreme Court guidelines on the arrest of a working lawyer. The SC guidelines stipulate that ‘no police officer shall arrest an advocate or investigate a case against an advocate without the explicit direction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate and due information to local the bar association.’ Strangely, the Jagatsinghpur police skipped the legal formalities.”
Association general secretary Naresh Das informed that an Icc case against police in SDJM Court here would be lodged on Thursday and after legal interpretation of the incident, next course of action would be decided.
