Lucknow: Joining their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, lawyers in several parts of the country on Monday struck court work to protest against Friday’s terror strikes in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi that took 14 lives.

While judicial work came to a standstill in UP, lawyers across Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh boycotted courts in the wake of a strike call given by the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh. Some lawyers were among those killed in bomb blasts on November 23 in the court premises at the three places in UP.

Judicial work remained paralysed all over UP, the State’s Bar Council president Amrendra Nath Singh said, adding that the day was being observed as anti-terrorism day. In Lucknow, lawyers moved about in groups in the court compounds and raised slogans against terrorism.

Reports reaching here from Ranchi, Jodhpur and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Bhopal, Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and Hyderabad spoke of protests by the advocate community. Work in the courts in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh came to a standstill while those across the State wore ‘red ribbons’ in their arms to mark their protests.

Judges in all these places, however, came to the courts.

In Jodhpur, where the Rajasthan High Court is based, and in Jaipur lawyers observed a two-minute silence in support of their colleagues in UP and then got out of the court, striking work.

Mr. Singh told reporters in Lucknow that the Government had tightened security arrangements in the courts throughout the State in the wake of the blasts. Lawyer in several States also observed “shok diwas’ (mourning day)

Bar Council of India Chairman Gopa Kumaran Nair has condemned the blasts and called for unity, he said.

Mr. Singh said that a five-member committee including two retired judges has been set up to suggest ways and means for improving security in the courts. PTI

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