Lawyers hurl eggs at Swamy inside Madras HC hall
18 Feb 2009
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chen ... 146026.cms
CHENNAI: The ongoing court boycott of the Madras high court on the Sri
Lankan Tamil issue took an ugly turn on Tuesday when some lawyers
hurled rotten eggs on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, an
acerbic critic of the LTTE, right in front of two horrified judges.
Swamy, waiting in the court of Justice P K Misra and Justice K Chandru,
was targeted by the mob which raised pro-Tamil Eelam slogans and
punched him. Even the presence of a
large posse of police personnel and Swamy's own security men did not
deter the advocates, who barred entry to others as soon as they entered
the court hall.
Despite
repeated, high-pitched warnings from the judges, the "unruly
mob" of advocates foul-mouthed the former union minister and
rained egg-missiles on him. Swamy was in court to get himself impleaded as a party to a writ appeal relating to the Chidambaram Natarajar Temple.
During his nearly 45-minute wait in court on Tuesday morning, the
restive crowd of lawyers kept swelling, culminating in the attack at
around 11.30 a.m. After the judges, shaking with anger, yelled at the
mob and restored order, Swamy, a Z-category protectee, told the court
that he did not feel safe even inside the court hall. He was then
permitted to have his securitymen with him inside the hall.
The judges later recorded the happenings in detail and sent a report to
the Aacting Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhaya for appropriate action. The Contempt of Courts Act requires the chief justice's nod to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings. (only contempt of the court! that to after the nod from the CJ ) The judges marked a copy to the Chief Justice of India, K G Balakrishnan, also.
NGR Prasad, a senior member of the Bar, condemned the incident and said
every person is entitled to present his point of view in court.
"You may not agree with him. But that hardly entitles you to
unleash violence against him. What about the image of the court and
lawyers? Our struggle is undoubtedly laudable, but there has to be
restraint," he said.
Senior advocate K M Vijayan
said, "inside the court or outside, vandalism of all forms
should be condemned. Vested interests are keeping this issue burning,
in view of the coming elections. No matter what Swamy's stand or agenda
is, he should not be subjected to violence, that too by advocates.
Anarchy should not be permitted in courts."
