At Rohini court, one lawyer threatens to jump off building, another tries to immolate himself

“I was shocked after I saw the news last night. Policemen (at the protest outside PHQ) were demanding that their suspended colleagues be reinstated. I felt scared when I heard police making derogatory remarks against lawyers… Earlier, my friends would be proud of me. Now, they support police; they call me a hooligan and a ‘black dog’. Though the High Court is with us, police are everywhere and can easily hurt us,” Choudhary claimed.

An hour later, advocate Rohit Pathak (28) threatened to jump off the 10th floor. “I have been working with the court for four years. We interact with police every day… but their recent behaviour has been a letdown. They shot at two lawyers and are trying to get away with the crime by staging protests and blocking roads for hours. I felt helpless, my family members are scared for me; they told me to not wear my black coat as I would be identified and humiliated. At Tis Hazari, 10-15 policemen had dragged a lawyer inside the undertrial lock-up and beat him up. I wanted this to end so I climbed atop the building, but was later stopped by my friends,” he claimed.

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A senior police officer said: “No PCR calls were made by any eyewitness. It was after we watched a video of the incident that we reached out to the lawyers; they said it was only a part of their protest.”

At the Saket court, lawyers locked the main gate despite the District Courts Coordination Committee Tuesday deciding to allow litigants into all district courts. At Tis Hazari district court, litigants were allowed to enter the premises, but some could not enter the courtrooms due to the lawyers’ strike.

Advocate Rohit Pathak stood atop the 10th floor of the lawyers’ chambers and threatened to jump.

Meanwhile, District and Sessions Judge at Tis Hazari courts, Girish Kathpalia, issued a statement: “Officials posted in all district courts are strictly directed not to forward any video clip, photos or text pertaining to the recent unfortunate events of clashes between lawyers and police to anyone, especially on social media. All officials shall also desist from making unnecessary comments on these issues… This is necessary to avoid further aggravation of the situation. If anyone gets any important and verifiable information, the same be shared with the district judge concerned personally.”

Lawyers of district courts have decided to abstain from work Thursday as well as their demand for the arrest of policemen involved in the clash has not been met, members of bar associations said.

CRPF personnel were also deployed at the PHQ. A source said it was done in anticipation of a protest by either side.