New Delhi: The eight accused in the Ayodhya Ram Mandir donation theft case may not find lawyers for their defence in the local court.
Faizabad Bar Association president Kalika Mishra said that a final decision on the unanimous refusal to take up their case will be taken at the general body meeting expected to be held on Monday.
It may be remembered that lawyers in Ayodhya had taken a similar stand in 2005 when those accused of a terrorist attack at the Ram Mandir were produced before a Faizabad court.
“Our sentiments have been hurt by the theft of temple offerings. The lawyers of Faizabad have agreed not to plead on behalf of the arrested accused. In this matter, a decision will be taken by the Bar Association president and the general body of the Bar. After this, further strategy will be prepared,” Bar Association secretary Shailendra Jaiswal told PTI.
According to advocate Vivek Kumar Singh, police should not have presented such social criminals before the magistrate under heavy security arrangement. “Like in West Bengal, they should have first been among the public,” he said.
“Due to the act of a few people, residents of Ayodhya have got a bad name across the whole world.”
Senior advocate Rajendra Chaudhary is of the opinion that stern action should be taken against these eight persons by adopting “bulldozer policy.”
All eight — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav — were on Friday sent to judicial custody till June 29 after being booked by police.
The FIR was registered on the recommendation of a preliminary report of a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government after allegations of misappropriation of temple donations surfaced earlier this month.
The accused were associated with counting cash and valuables received as donation at the Ram Mandir.
