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Advocates come to blows
Advocates from Seemandhra and Telangana regions resorted to fisticuffs thus triggering tension in the premises of the Andhra Pradesh High Court premises on Friday. The police took some 40 advocates into custody in connection with the incident.
- 40 advocates taken into preventive custody
- 28 hurt, four hospitalized; CP calls on CJ
Hyderabad: Advocates from Seemandhra and Telangana regions resorted to fisticuffs thus triggering tension in the premises of the Andhra Pradesh High Court premises on Friday. The police took some 40 advocates into custody in connection with the incident.
The scuffle that owed to the division of the lawyers over the APNGOS proposed meet in L B Stadium left some 24 Seemandhra advocates and four Telangana advocates injured. Four of them seriously injured were admitted to hospital. The high drama that lasted for more than four hours had a distracting effect on the proceedings of the day at the high court complex.
The trouble started with the Samaikyandhra advocates group wanting to form a human chain from the High Court premises to Madina Circle while pro-Telangana group tried to obstruct it. They sought to take out a rally to lodge their protest. Subsequently, police intervened and brought the situation under control, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone) Tarun Joshi said. He added that there was commotion for a while near the main gate following scuffle between a few advocates belonging to both the groups.
However, police dispersed the agitating advocates and activists from both the groups were taken into preventive custody, according to P Jaipal, ACP, Central Zone, Lawyers from Telangana had given a call for ‘Chalo high court’ – march to high court – to demand that the centre expedite the process for formation of separate Telangana state.
The rival groups later submitted their petitions to Chief Justice, Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta, blaming each other for the attacks. State secretariat and some other government offices in Hyderabad have been witnessing tense situation due to protests and counter protests for the past one month but this is the first time that lawyers from the two regions came to blows at the high court.
State Law Minister E Pratap Reddy termed the incidents at the high court as unfortunate. He called for dialogue between elders of the two regions to cool the tempers. Seemandhra employees, advocates and others from the region living in Hyderabad are opposed to bifurcation of the state. The incidents took place a day before ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting of Seemandhra employees in Hyderabad. Later in the evening, the Commissioner of Police Anurag Sharma called on the High Court Chief Justice, and discussed the incidents of the day. However, both YSRCP and TDP condemn the attacks on Seemandhra advocates.
