Oppn Cries Foul Over Apathy Of Odisha Govt Towards Agitating Lawyers

Cuttack: With the lawyers intensifying their agitation, the Opposition Congress and the BJP have come down heavily of the Odisha government, accusing it of being callous.

“Lawyers throughout the state are on strike since the last two months in protest against police excesses. The courts are paralysed and the number of under-trial prisoners is rising alarmingly. The Odisha government, instead of taking any step to resolve the issue, is making it even more complicated by trying to create a divide among the lawyers through the BJD Legal Front,” Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said in a release on Monday.

He said both the police and the lawyers play an important role in a democratic system and their issues must be addressed on a priority basis. Since the police-lawyers issue is sub-judice, the court will deliver its verdict.  “The Chief Minister is not taking it seriously and 25 platoons of police have been deployed in the High Court. This is not at all acceptable. The courts are not functioning due to lawyers’ strike for which the litigants are the worst sufferers. The Chief Minister, instead of playing the role of ‘Gandhari’, must intervene to resolve the impasse at the earliest possible,” Niranjan pointed out.

In a press briefing in the afternoon, senior Congress leader and Opposition chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati said his party has requested the state government to resolve the issue within two days. “If the state government fails to resolve the issue by November 2, the Congress will hit the street,” he added.

Maintaining that the both the BJD and the BJP are trying to fish in the troubled waters, Bahinipati said: “What the Chief Minister is doing since last two months and why he is so reluctant to hold a meeting with the lawyers? The agitation by the lawyers of the Orissa High Court Bar Association has seriously damaged the democratic norms,” he observed.

The BJP was also critical of the lackadaisical attitude of the state government.

“The state government should uphold the pride and prestige of the High Court Bar Association. The lawyers’ agitation and the number of the under-trial prisoners in jail have crossed the limits while the people, who are waiting for justice, are losing patience. Such unforeseen circumstances had never occurred in the past. The High Court Bar is not a political laboratory. The time has come for the Law minister and the secretaries concerned for an urgent meeting with the agitating lawyers,” senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra told mediapersons here.

On the other hand, the BJD has accused the BJP of instigating the lawyers to continue their agitation.

“The statement given by the Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan to the media three days ago has added fuel to the fire. It is now clear that the Union minister has done his best to incite the lawyers against the state government,” BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said.

He also said that being the custodian of the law, the lawyers are breaking the law themselves while ignoring the pitiable plight of the people, who have been waiting for justice since last two months. “Some lawyers had decided to join their duty in the High Court. But they were assaulted which is very unfortunate,” he pointed out.

Refuting the allegations by some lawyers that they were attacked by the members of the Biju Yuva Vahini, Deb said the BJP will never succeed in its effort to take a political mileage on this issue.

Talking to mediapersons, police commissioner Satyajit Mohanty said that the commissionerate police had made adequate security arrangements by the order of the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court. Unfortunately, there was violence which is condemnable.

“Four persons, including a policeman, have been injured in the violence. On the basis of the complaint by the injured, police will take necessary action in accordance with the law,” Mohanty said.