New Delhi, July 28 The Delhi High court on Friday discharged several lawyers in a criminal contempt of court case stemming from an incident on February 24, 2006, when a group of agitating lawyers caused mayhem at the Tis Hazari court complex.
A total of 12 lawyers including former Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) president Rajiv Khosla and former Delhi Bar Association (DBA) president Sanjeev Nasiar, have been discharged by a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul, Rajnish Bhatnagar and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta.
The court pronounced the order on Friday after having reserved it on October 14 last year.
A total of 25 lawyers were arraigned as alleged contemnors in the case for causing ruckus by throwing chairs, damaging computer monitors, and vandalising official records across at least 26 courtrooms. However, 13 of them were were discharged earlier.
On February 24, 2006, the high court had taken note of the report submitted by District Judge SN Dhingra regarding the alleged mayhem by the lawyers, and the court had considered the prospect of taking stern action against those identified in the FIR filed by the judge.
Following the complaint from the District Judge, the police had registered an FIR against lawyers charging them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, for rioting, unlawful assembly, and obstructing public servants from carrying out their duties, among others.
They were also charged under sections of the Damage to Public Property Act.
The lawyers had opposed to the relocation of cases to the Rohini District Court complex but their attempts to disrupt work at Tis Hazari were earlier foiled by the high court's order, instructing judicial officers to proceed with court cases, wherever possible, even in the absence of lawyers.
Special guidelines for conducting court hearings during the lawyer strike were devised to provide relief to distressed litigants.
The trouble had erupted shortly after a meeting of the protesting lawyers within the court complex, leading to their alleged division into several groups.
They had reportedly carried out a pre-planned attack on court staff and property across all three floors of the building.
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