THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan issued a stern warning to the lawyer community in the state for the manner in which it was ignoring sane counsel and attempting to keep the media out of the courts. He said that it was “utterly disappointing” that lawyers were behaving like this even after the government did all it could to arrive at a resolution. “A bilateral committee was formed, and even the Chief Justice had intervened,” he said while responding to a submission raised by Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on the issue in the Assembly on Monday.
“Now it looks as if none of these measures were binding on a section of people. The journalists should have the right to do their job just the way lawyers have their right to work. The government cannot allow such a situation to continue,” the Chief Minister said. “If things move in this manner, we will have no choice but to take stringent action.” Ramesh Chennithala said that police cases against women journalists, taken on the basis of false claims by lawyers, should be withdrawn. “The right decision will be taken after the probe is complete,” the Chief Minister said.
He said that three cases had been filed in the issue related to the violence unleashed by lawyers in the Vigilance Court on October 14. One was filed by New Indian Express reporter Prabhat Nair saying that he was dragged outof the court by lawyers and manhandled. Women reporters – C.P. Ajitha (Asianet News) and Justina Thomas (Manorama News) – too had filed a case against lawyers alleging unruly behaviour. A third case was filed in the Vanchiyoor court by lawyers who charged journalists, including the two women reporters, with having physically and verbally abused them. The Chief Minister said that the women reporters had given him a complaint related to the display of their photographs in flex boards. “I have forwarded the complaint to the DGP,” he said.
