Lucknow: The state government on Wednesday formed a three-member SIT to probe the clash between lawyers and police in UP’s Hapur district on Tuesday.
The SIT will be headed by Meerut divisional commissioner Selva Kumari J. The other two members are Meerut range IG Nachiketa Jha and Moradabad range DIG G Muniraj.
Special DG, law and order, Prashant Kumar, said the SIT would submit its report to the government within seven days. The statewide protest by lawyers against the incident on Wednesday was peaceful, said Kumar and added that police and district administration are in contact with lawyers’ associations in every district to maintain calm. Lawyers abstained from the courts for the whole day in protest.
Minor brawls between police and lawyers were reported from Meerut and Aligarh.
In Meerut, a policeman deployed in the security of a joint magistrate was allegedly manhandled by some lawyers. Later, police filed a complaint against unidentified lawyers.
In Lucknow, a group of protesting lawyers tried to force closure of shops near the Parivartan Chowk but were stopped by the police force.
In Prayagraj, the High Court Bar Association met on Tuesday evening and condemned the police action in Hapur.
In Muzaffarnagar, lawyers protested at the collectorate and submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to the district magistrate.
The Supreme Court Bar Association has also condemned the Hapur incident and urged the state government to investigate the matter and punish the guilty police officers.
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The Hapur incident
Police had allegedly lathicharged lawyers on Tuesday when they were protesting against the registration of a case at Hapur Kotwali police station against a woman advocate and her father. The woman lawyer was booked for arguing with policemen when she was going to Ghaziabad in her car about a week ago. The Bar Council has demanded transfer of Hapur DM, SP and the jurisdictional officer and action against police officials responsible for the incident.
