LAWLESS BUNCH

Middle class India comforts itself with the thought that if the whole country was educated, it would be more civilised and better run. The fallacy of this logic is proved to us several times, not least by the incidents in the Karnataka High Court and the Maharashtra legislature on Monday.


Lawyers created a ruckus in the Karnataka High Court forcing chief justice P Dinakaran to suspend proceedings. They were objecting to his continuing as chief justice in spite of the allegations of land-grabbing which has stalled his elevation to the Supreme Court.


The road which their objections took was not just contemptible but unacceptable. They swarmed into the hall, shouted slogans, prevented other lawyers from appearing in court, manhandled judges and media persons, locked two judges who were unaware of what was going on into their rooms and then cut off the power supply. On all counts, this is hardly what is expected of "educated" upholders of the law.


Sadly, in recent times lawyers have been at the forefront of unruly behaviour, across the country from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi to Tamil Nadu and now Karnataka. Ostensibly, they are advocates of the law and of jurisprudence. But often they are happy to forget the responsibility that comes with it and act in a reprehensible manner.

The question here is not about the suitability of Justice Dinakaran's continuing as chief justice of the Karnataka High Court after corruption charges were raised against him. It is of the disruption created in court by lawyers. Much as the legislature is the temple for elected representatives, the courtroom is the sacred place for lawyers.

The least that is expected of them is that they do not desecrate it. The lawyers could have sued other forums available to them to launch their campaign against the judge. Instead, by their conduct, they have diminished the force and focus of their argument and shifted it away from Dinakaran to themselves.


Does it reflect or shed uncomfortable light on our national character when the more progress we make, the less we respect civilised norms? Some lawyers of Karnataka have tarnished the reputation of the entire bar in that state by their actions. Stern action is called for against the lawyers and the association to which they belong. They cannot take refuge under the excuse that their cause — Dinakaran's supposed corruption — — is just, when their own actions are not.