JAIPUR: Lawyers in Sikar have announced an indefinite boycott of the courts after a clash between the police and the lawyers in the district court premises on Friday. The lawyers are demanding transfer of the Deputy Superintendent of Police and suspension of two constables -- one of whom was allegedly instrumental in starting the row in the court premises around noon by beating up an advocate.

The Sikar district court premises witnessed tension as the lawyers chased two police constables who allegedly manhandled a lawyer, Ramswaroop Bhalai. They managed to catch one constable and took him to the Additional Superintendent of Police's office while the other fled. The lawyers later convened a general body meeting of the Bar Association to announce their decision to boycott the courts and meet the Chief Minister on the issue later in the State Capital.

The situation reportedly was triggered off when Constable Om Singh Tanwar stopped Mr.Ramswaroop from talking to his client who was in the lock-up room in the court premises.

The police personnel also took away Mr. Ramswaroop for locking him up. Other advocates who came to know about the incident rushed to the scene to rescue their colleague, creating a melee in the premises and scaring the litigants.

"The constable called Mr. Ramswaroop, a Dalit, caste names and beat him. DSP Devendra Sharma misbehaved with me and another senior advocate Suraj Bhan," said Surendra Kulhari, president of the Sikar Bar Council, talking on telephone. He denied allegations that the advocate had beaten up police personnel. "Why should we have done so? We have the courts," he said.

The advocates have refused to file a case with the police and instead filed a complaint with the court. "We suggested to the lawyers that they can file a complaint in the police station but they chose to file a private complaint with the court," said Additional SP G. C. Roy when contacted.

When the constable had questioned Mr. Ramswaroop in the court premises the latter was not wearing lawyer's coat and this could have created the misunderstanding, Mr. Roy explained. Constable Om Singh has registered a complaint against Mr. Ramswaroop at the police station.

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