LUCKNOW (The Thursday Times) — Hundreds of lawyers broke through police barricades in Lucknow on Saturday and marched to the gates of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, demanding a state law to protect advocates from attacks and threats.
The march set off from the court complex in Kaisarbagh at about 10am and moved through Parivartan Chowk, Atal Chowk, and Hazratganj towards Vidhan Bhavan. Police had put up barricades and deployed extra forces along the route, but the lawyers pushed past them, pulled down iron and bamboo barriers and metal fencing, and in places climbed over them, leading to scuffles and heated exchanges with officers.
They reached Gate No. 2 of the Assembly, where they staged a sit-in and raised slogans. “We have taken to the streets to fight for our rights, but the police misbehaved with us,” said one of the protesting lawyers, Karan Sharma.
The protest ended after a delegation handed a memorandum to Babloo Kumar, the joint commissioner of police for law and order. “The memorandum was accepted and the situation remains under control,” he said. The lawyers warned that they would surround the chief minister’s residence if the government did not act on their demands within 15 days.
Eight demands
The march was called by the Central Bar Association and the Lucknow Bar Association after a joint general body meeting on Friday. Their eight-point charter puts an Uttar Pradesh Advocates Protection Act first. It also asks for the Advocate Welfare Fund payout to be raised from Rs5 lakh to Rs25 lakh, for CCTV cameras in the courtrooms of all district courts in the state within a month, for the old tehsil complex to be completed with new courtrooms and parking, and for parking at the transport department workshop opposite the court.
Avneesh Dixit, the general secretary of the Central Bar Association, said lawyers from across the state would be brought to Lucknow for a statewide “mahapanchayat” if the government did not decide soon. “Advocates’ unity is our strength, and the fight for our rights is our resolve,” he said.
Lawyers’ groups in India have long pressed for laws to shield advocates from assault and intimidation in the course of their work. Rajasthan became the first state to pass one, in 2023.
