The Hindu : National : Lawyers' strike keeps Uma Bharti in jail for a day more

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Wednesday, Sep 01, 2004

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National

Lawyers' strike keeps Uma Bharti in jail for a day more

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI, AUG. 31. The snap boycott by lawyers here on Tuesday stopped the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader, Uma Bharti, from walking out of jail as a free person.

The boycott of court by the members of the Hubli Bar Association came in the way of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (Second Court), Mohammed Ismael, hearing the application for withdrawal of the case against Ms. Bharti, as directed by the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. The lawyers boycotted the court to protest against the Chief Justice rejecting the demand for a Bench of the High Court in north Karnataka.

Adjournment

What the magistrate could do as the court opened in the morning was call out the cases and ask the public prosecutor to submit written arguments by 3 p.m. By that time, some of the Bar Association members entered the court hall to berate others who had come there. They did not allow anyone to enter the court hall till 4.30 p.m. when the magistrate announced the adjournment of the case against Ms. Bharti. Even the plea that this case pertained to Ms. Bharti, who was in judicial custody, failed to make any impact on the protesting lawyers. "It does not matter if the case is taken up tomorrow,'' they said.

`Human chain'

The protesting lawyers, led by C.R. Patil, president of the Bar Association and vice-chairman of the State Bar Council, formed a "human chain" blocking all the entry points, including the one reserved for the magistrates.

Barigali, public prosecutor, later told presspersons that the prosecution was required to make oral submission, besides submitting the written submission. It could be done only in open court. There was no change in the prosecution stand and "we are here only to carry out the directive of the High Court.''

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