Traffic disrupted in Shimla as Himachal Pradesh high court lawyers protest against police highhandedness; cop suspended

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association on Monday staged a protest outside Chhota Shimla police station over police highhandedness.
Notably, a police constable allegedly slapped an advocate publically at Navbahar Chowk here last week and the video of the incident had gone viral on social media.
As the advocates marched from the high court to Chhota Shimla police station, a few metres away from the state secretariat building, traffic came to a complete halt for hours. Later, superintendent of police, Shimla, Sanjeev Gandhi informed the lawyers at the protest site that the accused constable had been suspended and assured of a fair investigation.
Following the assurance from the SP, the protesting lawyers ended the strike in the afternoon. However, they said they would closely monitor the investigation.
Condemning the police constable's action, Gandhi said he did not approve of such an act and appropriate action would be taken according to the law based on the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Association for the Blind also held a ‘chakka jam' protest on Monday in support of their demands, including filling of vacant positions for the visually impaired persons in state govt departments and clearing the backlog vacancies at the earliest.