Lawyers clash with habitual offender at Vanchiyur court
tnn | Jan 20, 2019, 00:00 ISTThiruvananthapuram: A standoff between a group of lawyers and a habitual offender held the district court at Vanchiyoor for ransom for several hours on Saturday. The Vanchiyoor police registered two cases, one against Abhijith of Manacaud for assaulting one lawyer named Rafeeq and the other against a group of around 50 lawyers who could be identified on sight for assaulting Abhijith.
According to the police, the dramatic incidents took place outside the courtroom of the additional chief judicial magistrate. The functions of the court were affected after Abhijith took refuge inside the courtroom to save himself from the wrath of the lawyers. As a result, even the magistrate himself was trapped in the chamber as he could not go out during the recess because the lawyers blocked the courtroom entrance, waiting to get their hands on Abhijith.
Sources in the court said that Abhijith and a lawyer broke into an altercation, which turned physical. This happened around 10.30 am. Soon, more lawyers charged in to help their colleague. Abhijith tried to escape the beating by running away but failed. He even tried to jump off the balcony outside the courtroom. It was after this, he ran into the courtroom as the last resort.
After police from Vanchiyoor station failed to disperse the angry lawyers, the magistrate summoned city police commissioner S Surendran, who arrived with additional force. Finally, around 2.30 pm, the police force managed to take Abhijith out of the court, after covering him with protective gear. Still, some lawyers managed to assault him while he was escorted out of the court.
Abhijith is a habitual offender who is involved in several crimes including one attempt to murder case and a ganja case. He was at the court on Saturday to handle the bail plea of Ilie Gabriel, one of the two Romanians, who are in jail here for the sensational ATM heist involving debit card skimming.
“He got acquainted with the Romanian in the jail after he was arrested in 2016 by Fort police in the city in connection with an attempt to murder case. He offered to help him by engaging an advocate to move Gabriel’s bail plea,” said Vanchiyoor sub-inspector D Suvarnakumar.
The police commissioner said though the situation was tense when the force reached there, they could bring normalcy without using force.
A lawyer practising at the court said the lawyer who turned up to represent Gabriel raised doubts over the identity proof of the sureties brought by Abhijith. This was the reason for the quarrel that eventually led to the brawl.
This is not the first-time violent clashes were reported at district court here. In 2017, the lawyers here had clashed with journalists over the rift between the two groups over the coverage of alleged atrocities committed by a senior high court lawyer towards a woman. Before that, they had allegedly assaulted a policeman, who came to produce lawyer who was arrested for public nuisance.
According to the police, the dramatic incidents took place outside the courtroom of the additional chief judicial magistrate. The functions of the court were affected after Abhijith took refuge inside the courtroom to save himself from the wrath of the lawyers. As a result, even the magistrate himself was trapped in the chamber as he could not go out during the recess because the lawyers blocked the courtroom entrance, waiting to get their hands on Abhijith.
Sources in the court said that Abhijith and a lawyer broke into an altercation, which turned physical. This happened around 10.30 am. Soon, more lawyers charged in to help their colleague. Abhijith tried to escape the beating by running away but failed. He even tried to jump off the balcony outside the courtroom. It was after this, he ran into the courtroom as the last resort.
After police from Vanchiyoor station failed to disperse the angry lawyers, the magistrate summoned city police commissioner S Surendran, who arrived with additional force. Finally, around 2.30 pm, the police force managed to take Abhijith out of the court, after covering him with protective gear. Still, some lawyers managed to assault him while he was escorted out of the court.
Abhijith is a habitual offender who is involved in several crimes including one attempt to murder case and a ganja case. He was at the court on Saturday to handle the bail plea of Ilie Gabriel, one of the two Romanians, who are in jail here for the sensational ATM heist involving debit card skimming.
“He got acquainted with the Romanian in the jail after he was arrested in 2016 by Fort police in the city in connection with an attempt to murder case. He offered to help him by engaging an advocate to move Gabriel’s bail plea,” said Vanchiyoor sub-inspector D Suvarnakumar.
The police commissioner said though the situation was tense when the force reached there, they could bring normalcy without using force.
A lawyer practising at the court said the lawyer who turned up to represent Gabriel raised doubts over the identity proof of the sureties brought by Abhijith. This was the reason for the quarrel that eventually led to the brawl.
This is not the first-time violent clashes were reported at district court here. In 2017, the lawyers here had clashed with journalists over the rift between the two groups over the coverage of alleged atrocities committed by a senior high court lawyer towards a woman. Before that, they had allegedly assaulted a policeman, who came to produce lawyer who was arrested for public nuisance.
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