Tension prevails as lawyers stage dharna

Warangal: Tension prevailed here on Tuesday as members of the District Bar Association staged dharna in front of Subedari police station demanding the release of lawyers arrested by the police.

The police have taken eight advocates into custody on the charges of alleged manhandling of a judge from Andhra Pradesh as part their ongoing stir demanding to scrap provisional list allocating judges to Telangana and AP courts.

The Bar Association members have called for boycott of court proceedings demanding withdrawal of suspension imposed on a few judges by High Court and release of advocates who were arrested in Hyderabad on Monday.

They staged a protest at the District Court Complex in Hanamkonda during which they demanded a judge from AP to quit the bench. But he reportedly refused to budge and it led to heated arguments between the judge and the protesting advocates.

Following which the first Additional District Judge KB Narsimhulu, who faced the ire of the protestors, has lodged a complaint with Subedari police.

The judge said he was manhandled by the lawyers and it led to the arrest of the accused advocates. It was said that the advocates have damaged a computer and furniture at the court complex. Later in the evening, the association members have held at a meeting at the Court Complex and condemned the arrest of protesting advocates and planned to intensify their agitation from Wednesday onwards.

The protesting advocates said, “False cases are booked against advocates who were protesting peacefully”. The agitation would continue until the High Court is divided and the appointments of 135 judges of Andhra Pradesh origin to subordinate courts in Telangana were cancelled, they said.

“We have fought for separate Telangana hoping to get due share in jobs in our State. Even after formation of separate State, those from Andhra have been cornering our jobs,” the association members lamented.

Bar Association vice-president A Nagaraju and its general secretary TV Ramana, members M Ranjith, Shyam Kishore, A Srinivas and Ch Rajendra Prasad were among the arrested advocates besides two others.

During the late evening hours of Tuesday, they were produced at the residence of first munsif magistrate P Anitha who remanded them for 14 days judicial custody. On the other hand, heavy police deployment was made at the district Court Complex as a precautionary measure.