The court work remained suspended in Ghaziabad and 19 other western UP districts after the Bar Association declared strike to protest the removal the Dr BR Ambedkar's statue by the district police.
The Bar associations of Baghpat, Meerut, Muzaffar Nagar, Saharanpur, Shamli, Noida and others districts joined the strike on the call of Meerut-based High Court Bench Struggle Committee, claimed Ghaziabad Bar Association president Rakesh Tyagi Kakra.
The lawyers on Wednesday put a photo of BR Ambedkar after police uninstalled the statue. Police again removed the photo, after which clash erupted between police and lawyers. Finally after civil administration's intervention, a request was submitted to the administration for approval of installing the statue.
But the Bar declared a day's token strike to boycott work in courts. The other bar associations also showed their solidarity with the Ghaziabad Bar Association and didn’t work in their respective 19 districts said Bar Association president.
Earlier police registered a FIR against 17 members Bar association executive for illegally grabbing public land and installing statue without Government’s permission. "The approval of the district administration was a mandatory formality which was not sought prior to the statue's installation, so the statue was removed" said Additional District Magistrate Gyanendra Singh.
The FIR was lodged by Asgar Ali Collectorate Nazir in Kavi Nagar police station under section 447 of IPC and 2/3 public property Act. Those named in the FIR included Rakesh Kakra president Bar association, Parvinder Nagar secretary Bar association, Chandra Bhan Sharma senior vice president, Vikrant Parashar vice president, Harendra Singh Tomar Treasurer, Rahul Kumar joint secretary, Manoj Sharma joint secretary Library and twelve other lawyers.