Lawyers across the state extended their support to their Sambalpur counterparts, urging the chief minister to take appropriate legal action against the district collector, accused of abusing lawyers while they were agitating on Monday against irregular electricity supply.
The collector, Mrinalini Darswal in turn had leveled serious charges against the lawyers of trying to outrage her modesty.
Lawyers from various bar associations, including a delegation from All Odisha Lawyers Association, Odisha State Bar Council and Orissa high court assembled in Sambalpur on Friday to lend support to aggrieved lawyers of Sambalpur.
“While advocates have already been arrested in connection with cases filed by the collector and DSR, why is action not being initiated by police in the case filed by the advocates,” questioned high court Bar president Jayant Das.
He said that from the description and available information it appeared that the collector did not handle the situation properly and she became the root cause of the entire incident. “Such an incident would not have taken place had she refrained from confronting the lawyers,” Das said.
Members of the local Bar submitted various evidences and still photos to the visiting lawyers to give a clear picture of the situation that occurred on Monday.
They described how the collector abused the lawyer fraternity by using slang language.
“We have given the true picture of the incident between the collector and lawyers on Monday. We informed how we were prepared to go to WESCO office in a bus to protest against the regular power cut and how the collector appeared at the scene movie style and abused the lawyers,” said Sambalpur Bar Association president Pramod Rath.
He informed that Sambalpur lawyers will resume their agitation from Saturday, demanding the ouster of the collector.
The lawyers have also demanded judicial probe in the incident, rejecting crime branch probe.
Nevertheless, an eight-member team of crime branch personnel, led by crime branch DSP Alok Das, reached Sambalpur to take up the case.
“We have come to investigate as per the direction of the government,” Das said.
