Bengaluru: Just minutes after the Karnataka High Court delivered a landmark judgement acquitting AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa and three of her associates of all charges in the disproportionate assets case on Monday, her supporters who were not to be seen anywhere near the high court complex till then rushed to the two gates of the court and near the Press Club of Bangalore, and started celebrating.
The High Court complex had turned into a fortress with the city police clamping ban orders under Section 144 around the court and deploying men in good numbers.
As the police did not allow Ms Jayalalithaa’s supporters to gather in groups, they had spread out across the Cubbon Park and near the Press Club, waiting for the verdict, which was pronounced soon after the proceedings began in the morning.
Hundreds of lawyers, most of them from Tamil Nadu, ran out of the High Court gates and started shouting slogans that they had ‘won’ and that the ‘truth prevailed’.
They gathered outside the court premises and started giving interviews to TV channels, even as the city police struggled to disperse the crowd and maintain the decorum of the court. Some of the supporters distributed Tirunelveli sweets outside the court.
The Vidhana Soudha police kept reminding the advocates and supporters that the ban orders were in force and they had to disperse. By noon, the police managed to clear the groups without detaining or arresting anyone.
“We had tied ropes and deployed our men in different places around the High Court. After the verdict, there was excitement and sloganeering for about 15-30 minutes, after which everything returned to normal,” a senior police officer said.
Mr A. Ramesh, a senior advocate, said, “We are happy that ‘Amma’ has emerged victorious, and she can assume the chief minister’s office anytime now, as it is a disproportionate asset case and not a corruption case.
