Condemning the attack on advocate and activist Prashant Bhushan in his Supreme Court lawyers’ chambers here, senior lawyers said on Wednesday that it is “high time” that the security be beefed up and adequate measures be taken to protect the lives of lawyers.
“It is condemnable. We live in a rule of law society. No one should take law in their hands. After the high court bomb blast, we have asked the judges’ committee to strengthen the security. The process is on. The security of the lawyers, who work for the people, should be increased. It has to be foolproof so that incidents like these do not recur. What happened today is alarming,” Supreme Court Bar Association secretary K.C. Kaushik said.
Reacting to the assault on Bhushan, allegedly by Sri Ram Sena, president Bar Association of India Anil Divan said, “All the citizens as well as lawyers are entitled to express their views. The incident that took place today is highly condemnable. It impairs the rule of law. To prevent the repeat of what happened today, the security in the courts should be looked into. Whether they (attackers) are motivated by some undesirable elements is to be found.”
Lawyer and activist Bhushan was roughed up and beaten by three youths suspected to belong to a right wing group, in his Supreme Court chamber for his advocacy of plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.
Calling it a “serious issue”, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta said, “I individually as well as on part of the Delhi State Bar Council condemn the attack. It is a serious issue. Whosoever has done it, should be very sternly dealt with.”
Vijay Aggarwal, lawyer of Shahid Balwa, MD of DB Realty in the 2G scam case said, “It is high time security of judiciary is beefed up. Today a lawyer is attacked, tomorrow a judge may be attacked. We have seen HC blasts just recently. We thought we have threat to our lives just from terrorists. It seems we need to be saved and protected from people who do not approve of our work.”