Advocates continue boycott of courts in Karnataka

Bangalore, Mar 9: Advocates across Karnataka on Friday decided to continue their indefinite boycott of courts till the state government concedes their demands, including action against top police officials and media in connection with the violence at the city civil court complex.

More than 3,000 lawyers converged at the court complex responding to a call by Advocates Association of Bangalore and held meetings pressing for transfer of DGP Shankar Bidari and City Police Commissioner Jyothiprakash Mirji.

"We will continue our boycott till our demands are met by the government", President AAB K N Subba Reddy told PTI as the lawyers continued to stay away from courts since the March 2 mayhem in which advocates attacked media and police personnel leaving scores of them injured.

The advocates also wanted action against the media for 'one-sided' reporting of the incidents that have led to a confrontation between them and media and police.

The meetings passed off peacefully as 20 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police, four companies of Rapid Action Force and 1000 police personnel had been deployed in and around the complex to ensure law and order, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sunil Kumar said. Reddy said the issue of AAB starting its own TV channel also came up for discussion.

PTI