Pro-LTTE lawyers, police clash leaves judge hurt

(Feruary 20, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) It was as if the LTTE fighting the Sri Lankan forces. At least the mood was such when police on Thursday tried to arrest 13 pro-LTTE lawyers involved in the attack on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday.Over 50 persons were injured, including a judge and a journalist, following the pitched battle between the lawyers and the police in the late afternoon inside the premises of the Madras High Court. The lawyers were demanding the arrest of Swamy. The State Government has ordered CBI probe into the incident.

It was almost like a battlefield with the lawyers on one side and the police on the other. When the police attempted to arrest the 13 lawyers involved in the attack on Swamy, the lawyers began pelting stones at the police. The police advanced on the violent lawyers, lathi-charging them. The irate lawyers set fire to the B-4 police station situated inside the court premises. According to police sources, the station is virtually gutted. Numerous vehicles parked inside the premises were damaged in the milieu as the two-wheelers and four-wheelers lay damaged and broken with glass and plastic shards all around. The protesters also torched some of the parked vehicles in anger. Traffic on NSC Bose Road was disrupted.

Some lawyers rushed to a court to complain about the happenings to some judges and the latter came out to inspect the situation. In the process Justice Arumugam Perumal Adityan was injured by a pelting stone. Two cameramen and a journalist of television channels were caught in the crossfire and were injured. People — mostly lawyers — were seen walking around with blood oozing from head injuries or being carried away by the police.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister K Anbazhagan read out a message from ailing Chief Minister M Karunanidhi expressing distress over the attack on Swamy. He also said that the law would take its own course against the perpetrators. According to a senior police official, the 13 lawyers were easily identified as there were many eyewitnesses, including police officials, to the Tuesday’s incident.

Anticipating trouble, a posse of police personnel was stationed in the court premises while arresting the lawyers. When trouble began, additional forces were sent.

Meanwhile, a division bench on Thursday morning ordered that a five-judge bench, headed by acting Chief Justice Mukhopadhyaya, would hold an enquiry into the attack on Swamy. It also directed the DGP to file a detailed report on the attack. The other members of the panel are Justice Prabha Sridevan, Justice Murugesan, Justice Dhanapalan and Justice K Chandru. The panel would hear the case on March 11.

Justice Mukopadhyaya assured that such attacks would not happen in a court hall again. He also said that some recommendations have been made to Advocates Association and the Bar Council. The DGP has also been asked to give a detailed report on the security arrangement and the number of personnel present in the court.

But this was before the afternoon mayhem.

Criticising the violence that defamed the seat of law in Tamil Nadu, Swamy said: "They are just some pro-LTTE people. They cannot hold the society to ransom. The police are just doing its duty. In fact, only a handful of lawyers are involved in today's clashes and a major portion instead attended the court proceedings."

Members of the Madras High Court Advocates Association have been boycotting the city courts for the past two weeks over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, demanding immediate ceasefire by the Sri Lankan forces.

Pandemonium also prevailed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly where PMK, MDMK and CPI MLAs clashed with Congress MLAs over External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement in the Parliament on Wednesday. Some of the MLAs were evicted from the House.
-Sri Lanka Guardian